By Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set to open subdued on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and kept tabs on corporate updates with the earnings season in full swing.
The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, but investors will focus on Chair Jerome Powell's conference at 1430 ET (1830 GMT) after the statement to gauge how long the central bank could keep rates elevated.
Bets of a 25-basis point rate hike in December currently stand at 26.2%, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"For now, the Fed is very much in wait and see mode," said Niall O' Sullivan, chief investment officer multi-asset strategies EMEA at Neuberger Berman.
"Data continues to show consumer strength and broader economic strength in the U.S. and against that, is the long end of the curve, which is to some extent acting like rate hikes."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday said it plans to "gradually" increase the size of most of its debt auctions in the November 2023 to January 2024 quarter.
It plans to sell $112 billion in its quarterly refunding next week.
"Part of the driver for yields moving higher through the September - October time frame really was supply, so therefore today's announcement became extremely important to market participants," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
Helping futures cut early declines, the yield on the 10-year note slipped after the refunding news and was last at 4.845%.
Most megacap growth stocks edged higher in premarket trade, with Tesla up 1.3%.
The Fed's stance on interest rates will likely set the tone for U.S. equities following a sharp fall in October due to a surge in Treasury yields, the Middle East conflict and mixed earnings reports.
CVS Health beat estimates for quarterly profit, though medical costs at its health insurance business were high. The company's shares were last down 4.4% premarket.
Estee Lauder dropped 16.8% after the beauty products maker cut its annual profit outlook.
Advanced Micro Devices slipped 0.2% after the chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue below estimates.
The ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls rose by 113,000 jobs last month, less than expectations of 150,000 job additions, per economists polled by Reuters.
Investors will also parse through a reading on job openings later on Wednesday, ahead of the monthly payrolls report for October on Friday.
The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) survey on manufacturing activity last month will also be on the watchlist.
At 8:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 34 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.75 points, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.05%
Payroll processor Paycom Software plunged 38.4% after pojecting downbeat fourth-quarter revenue, while First Solar gained 4.1% as the solar panel maker raised the low end of its full-year profit forecast.
Tinder owner Match Group fell 8.1% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue below estimates.
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Maju Samuel)
