US pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of earnings flurry

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors awaited a flurry of high-profile earnings from the like of McDonald's and General Motors and looked to the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

At 1100 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were steady.

Meanwhile, oil prices continued to gain after Monday's meeting of Opec and non-Opec members in Russia resulted in Saudi Arabia and Russia promising harsher penalties for non-compliance, with the former pledging to lower exports.

West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude were up 1% to $46.83 a barrel and $49.07, respectively.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "The Federal Reserve will begin its two day meeting later on today, with the announcement and statement following it tomorrow evening. While no change in policy is expected and no press conference is taking place, with the central bank believed to be preparing measures to reduce the balance sheet from September, there may be hints at such a move in the statement."

On the corporate front, Google parent Alphabet looked set for losses at the open after the company said late on Monday that its profits were hit by the record fine imposed by the European Commission on Google last month for the breach of competition rules.

Second-quarter revenues at Alphabet rose 21% to $26bn but profit in the three months to the end of June fell more than 40% to $3.5bn due to the fine.

Elsewhere, oilfield services group TechnipFMC was sharply lower in pre-market trade after saying it will restate some previous results due to material errors.

Earnings were due ahead of the opening bell from McDonald's, GM, Caterpillar, DuPont, Eli Lilly, 3M and United Technologies.

On the macroeconomic calendar, the S&P/Case-Shiller house price index is due at 1400 BST, while Richmond Fed manufacturing is scheduled for release at 1500 BST.