Investing.com -- Wall Street is set for a buoyant open on Wednesday, as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s quarterly earnings leave investors in no mood to wait for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later in the day.
The Cupertino-based giant’s shares were indicated 5.9% higher in premarket trade after it increased its buyback program by $75 billion, and indicated that higher revenue from accessories, iPads and services were all helping to offset the recent decline in iPhone sales.
At 6.45 AM ET (1045 GMT) The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures contract was indicated up 54 points, or 0.7%, reversing the losses posted on Tuesday after Alphabet’s disappointing update wiped a combined $100 billion off the so-called FAANG stocks (Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)).
The Dow futures contract was indicated up 77 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 futures was up 8.8 points, also up 0.3%. It had hit a new all-time high of 2961.12 overnight.
The day’s early earnings reports have been somewhat weaker than expected, with Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WLTW) and Entergy (NYSE:ETR) both missing earnings consensus. By contrast, Humana (NYSE:HUM) beat on both top and bottom lines, as did hotel group Hotel Worldwide.
They’ll be followed by consumer giants Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM), CVS (NYSE:CVS), MetLife (NYSE:MET), ADP (NASDAQ:ADP), Corning (NYSE:GLW) and Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) in the course of the morning. Chipmaker Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) reports after the closing bell.
Elsewhere, the dollar is weaker across the board as the market prepares for the Fed’s monetary policy statement at 2 PM ET. No change in the key Fed Funds target rate of 2.25%-2.50% is expected, although economist say the Fed may trim its rate on excess reserves fractionally to nudge the effective Fed Funds rate away from the top of that range. Yields on both two-year and 10-year Treasury bonds have hit their lowest since early April in the last 24 hours.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at a one-week low of 97.072.
Crude oil prices were also lower as the turmoil in Venezuela failed to have a noticeable impact on oil shipments. The U.S. benchmark WTI Futures contract was at $63.59, more than a dollar off Tuesday’s highs. Prices took a knock late on Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprise increase in U.S. crude stocks last week.
Gold futures were a fraction lower at $1,284.35 having dipped briefly below $1,280 in the European morning.