The New York Stock Exchange is likely to open on a cautious note in early trading on Tuesday, following the release of contrasting corporate results and on the eve of Federal Reserve decisions.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices were down by around 0.4%, heralding a slightly lower start to the session.

After rising sharply over the last two sessions, US equity markets are likely to be more hesitant today, as the Fed is due to begin its two-day monetary policy meeting in a few hours' time.

While investors are largely anticipating a 'status quo', they will be closely watching the speech by US central bank chairman Jerome Powell for possible indications of future rate cuts.

Investors are also on their guard as they await Amazon's results, which will be released after the close and inevitably scrutinized after the flawless copies handed in by Microsoft and Alphabet last week.

The strength of consumer spending, growth in cloud demand for businesses and the favorable dynamics of the advertising market should support first-quarter performance", says Maria Ripps, analyst at Canaccord Genuity.

Several big names in the stock market published their quarterly accounts before the opening, often with mixed results.

Industrial conglomerate 3M is expected to rise by 7% after reporting a 21% increase in earnings for the first three months of 2024 and presenting new targets for 2024.

Biopharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is up almost 5% after raising its target ranges for 2024, following a 59% rise in first-quarter profit.

On the other hand, McDonald's is down 3% in pre-market trading, despite first-quarter sales and earnings exceeding Wall Street expectations.

Coca-Cola, meanwhile, was little changed in electronic trading following the publication of a 36% contraction in operating income for the first three months of the year.

On the macro-economic front, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, to be released early in the session, is expected to come in at 104 in April, compared with 104.7 the previous month.

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