Stock futures rise after Apple results; Fed statement awaited

[October 28, 2015]  By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Wednesday, after Apple reported strong quarterly results and ahead of a statement by the Federal Reserve on interest rates.

* Apple sold 48 million iPhones in the quarter and reported a near doubling of revenue from China, allaying some concerns about its business in the world's second-largest economy.

* Apple's shares were up nearly 2 percent at $116.64 in premarket trading.

* The Fed's statement is due at 2:00 p.m. ET after the end of its two-day policy meeting.

* While the central bank is not expected to raise rates at the meeting, traders will parse the statement for clues on how it is interpreting financial events and when it will pull the trigger.

* Global markets were up as European companies posted better-than-expected earnings reports, but gains were limited by a decline in Asian stocks weighed by the finance sector.

* U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday after Ford's results missed expectations and energy stocks slid.
 

* Companies reporting before the opening bell on Wednesday include Fiat Chrysler and General Dynamics.

* Amgen , GoPro and PayPal will post results after the close. GoPro was up 2.7 percent, while PayPal inched up 1.4 percent in premarket trading.

* Diamond Foods soared 11.8 percent to $39.00 after Snyder's-Lance said it would buy the Kettle potato chips maker for about $1.27 billion.

* Northrop Grumman jumped 7.9 percent to $194.89 after it reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.

* Twitter slumped 10.2 percent to $28.15 on the microblogging company's disappointing revenue forecast and anemic user growth.
 

* Rite Aid was down 6 percent at $8.15 a day after Walgreens Boots Alliance said it would buy the smaller drugstore operator for $9.4 billion.

* Gilead Sciences was down 1.2 percent at $109.58 after the biotech company reported weak sales growth for its hepatitis C drug in the quarter.

Futures snapshot at 6:49 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis  were up 4.25 points, or 0.21 percent, with 84,327 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis  were up 14.25 points, or 0.31 percent, on volume of 15,925 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 25 points, or 0.14 percent, with 10,518 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
 

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