U.S. futures higher, eyes on Fed statement; Dow Jones up 0.46%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures were higher on Wednesday, boosted by Apple’s strong first quarter earnings while investors eyed the release of a series of statements by the Federal Reserve later in the day.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a rise of 0.46%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.62% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated 1.93% surge.

Investors remained cautious as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave no indication, during a speech in Brussels earlier Wednesday, on whether the central bank will provide further support to banks or governments.

The comments came amid speculation that the Netherlands could lose its triple-A credit rating following the collapse of its government on Monday after talks on the 2013 austerity budget failed.

Meanwhile, markets were also jittery as a string of mixed U.S. data on consumer confidence, new home sales and home prices failed on Tuesday to paint a clear picture of the level of recovery of the world’s largest economy.

Apple was expected to be active after the company’s quarterly profit nearly doubled, as strong Asian sales of iPhones - five times the number from a year ago - offset recent drops in U.S. orders. Apple shares soared 9.26% in pre-market trade.

Other tech stocks were likely to be in focus, such as Baidu Inc., as the owner of China’s dominant Internet search engine forecast second-quarter revenue will be no more than USD867 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of USD869.2 million, and sending shares down 9.08% in pre-market trade.

International Game Technology, the world’s biggest maker of slot machines, rose 3.90% in late trading however, after it forecast profit in 2012 of 99 cents to USD1.04 a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 99 cents.

Elsewhere, maker of Post-it Notes and fuel system tune up kits, 3M was set to move in Wednesday’s session after posting earnings per share that beat analysts’ estimates by 10 cents, helped by rising domestic auto and industrial demand. Shares rose 0.34% in after hour trade.

In the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, Life Technologies and Amgen Inc., were slated to be active after both groups reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit. Amgen said it benefited from increased sales of its drugs to treat infections in cancer patients.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 surged 1.38%, France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.47%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.19%, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.15%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased down 0.15%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rallied 0.95%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish government data on durable goods orders and crude oil stockpiles, while the Federal Reserve was to announce its benchmark interest rate and release its rate statement.