U.S. futures slip ahead of Fed, data; Dow Jones down 0.20%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's monthly policy statement as well as key U.S. data to be released later in the week.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.20% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.36% drop, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.33% loss.

Market sentiment has been recently underpinned by signs that the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis has turned a corner, after the European Central Bank said on Friday that European banks are to repay three-year emergency loans early, indicating that liquidity pressures in the region have eased.

But investors remained cautious ahead of a number of significant U.S. economic events later in the week, including data on fourth quarter growth and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement on Wednesday, as well as Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls data.

Software companies were expected to be active, after BMC Software forecast fiscal 2013 profit that missed analysts’ estimates, a sign it’s struggling to clinch big contracts, sending shares tumbling 7.15% in after-hour trade.

VMware, the biggest maker of software that enables computers to run multiple operating systems, dove 14.67% in early trading after forecasting sales that missed estimates amid cutbacks from corporate customers.

Meanwhile, Yahoo saw shares surged 2.90% pre-market after saying it forecasts a modest rise in revenue for the current year.

In the same sector, online retailer Amazon.com was to report results for the holiday quarter, later in the day.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Bloomberg reported that Johnson & Johnson failed its own safety test in designing an all-metal hip implant and then changed the protocol instead of fixing the flaw, according to a testimony in the first of 10,000 lawsuits to go to trial.

Elsewhere, Lockheed Martin was likely to be in focus after Pentagon and industry officials said on Monday a manufacturing problem was the most likely cause of an engine failure that led to the grounding of all 25 Marine Corps versions of the firm's F-35 fighter jet 10 days ago.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.44%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.40%, Germany's DAX retreated 0.35%, while Britain's FTSE 100 dipped 0.08%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.07%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.39%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release reports on house price inflation and consumer confidence.