US pre-open: Stocks set for muted open ahead of data; Facebook slumps

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street as investors looked ahead to a slew of data releases, with Facebook under the cosh.

At 1105 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were flat and Nasdaq futures were 0.2% lower.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve decided not to up its key interest rate, as widely expected, but indicated that a hike could be on the cards at its next meeting in December.

Meanwhile, oil prices were firmer, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.8% to $45.70 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.8% at $47.24.

Remo Fritschi, institutional sales manager at ADS Securities London, said: “Wall Street has been working its way lower since the start of the week but right now it appears that traders are ready to pause for breath as futures point towards a broadly unchanged start to the day. There were certainly no surprises from the FOMC yesterday afternoon and that commitment to a December rate hike was to be expected.

"We have a weight of US economic data straddling the opening bell so this could deliver some direction in the short term. Had the political agenda shaped up differently we would be thinking that numbers like US factory orders could have provided valuable campaign collateral, but it seems like a long while since this debate has focused on economic policy."

Initial jobless claims are at 1230 GMT and ISM non-manufacturing is at 1400 GMT, along with industrial new orders and durable goods orders.

On the corporate front, Facebook shares slumped in pre-market trade after the social media group cautioned late on Wednesday that advertising revenue growth will slow “meaningfully”.

Elsewhere, Fitbit shares were down a whopping 30% in pre-market trade after the fitness device maker reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and cut its full-year earnings forecast.

Zynga was also likely to be in focus as the video game company reported a drop in third-quarter revenue and said it swung to a loss.

Chesapeake Energy and Avon Products were among the companies slated to report earnings ahead of the opening bell.