Wall St set to open lower as earnings disappoint

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised to open lower on Tuesday as a slew of disappointing earnings blunted investor enthusiasm after Apple's strong results the day before.

Investors were also awaiting the results of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting that ends on Wednesday for clues on when the central bank will hike interest rates.

Apple rose 1.7 percent to $134.87 in premarket trading after beating Wall Street's revenue and profit forecasts as it sold more iPhones in China.

Coach shares slumped 5.2 percent to $40.15 after the handbag and accessories maker's quarterly sales fell short of estimates, while Ford Motor fell 1 percent to $15.88 after reporting a profit that was less than analysts expected.

"Most of the big corporations are missing on revenue and eventually that's going to hurt the markets as valuations stay high," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

Strong results from tech giants pushed the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 to record highs last week.

Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, only 44.3 percent have beaten on revenue, below the 61 percent that beat in a typical quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dow component Pfizer and home appliances maker Whirlpool both cut forecasts, blaming the strong dollar. Whirlpool fell 5.9 percent to $186 while Pfizer was little changed at $34.60 before the bell.

The dollar <.DXY> gained about 23 percent against a basket of major currencies over the financial year ended March 31, hurting companies with large overseas operations.

S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 5.25 points and their fair value ? a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract ? indicated a lower open.

Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures <1YMc1> were down 50 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures were down 4.75 points.

Merck rose 4.4 percent to $59.65 after its diabetes drug, Januvia, achieved the main goal of a long-awaited heart safety study. The company also reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings on Tuesday.

Data expected on Tuesday include U.S. single-family home prices for February at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) and U.S. consumer confidence numbers for April at 10 a.m.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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