U.S. stock futures higher ahead of Fed statement

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday on hopes that Beijing could stem the rout in its markets and ahead of a statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that could give clues regarding the timing of a rate hike.

* Investors are focused on the outcome of the Fed's two-day policy meeting with markets divided on whether it will take a hawkish or dovish stance. No move on rates is expected this week.

* In a recent congressional testimony, Fed Chair Janet Yellen neither ruled out a September interest rate hike nor guided the market toward thinking it was a done deal. The statement is expected at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT).

* U.S. interest rates have remained near zero for nearly a decade. Higher rates increase the cost of borrowing for companies.

* Pledges from Chinese regulators to buy shares to stabilize stocks if needed and hints of more policy easing from the central bank also soothed sentiments.

* With second-quarter reports well under way, analysts now expect overall earnings of S&P 500 companies to edge up 0.3 percent and revenue to decline 4.0 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Companies expected to report on Wednesday include MasterCard before the bell while Facebook and MetLife are scheduled after the close.

* Twitter shares fell more than 11 percent to $32.50 in premarket trading after the microblogging company said its number of monthly average users rose at the slowest pace since it went public in 2013.

* Yelp slumped 20.4 percent to $26.65 after the operator of consumer review website Yelp.com, reported a surprise loss and forecast revenue for the current quarter that fell far below market expectations.

* Akamai Technologies was down 10.4 percent at $66 after the online content distributor forecast third-quarter revenue and profit below estimates.

* Gilead Sciences rose 4.5 percent to $118.17 after the company raised its outlook for 2015 product sales by $1 billion.

Futures snapshot at 7:14 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.2 percent, with 119,650 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 11.5 points, or 0.25 percent, on volume of 17,114 contracts.

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 42 points, or 0.24 percent, with 12,580 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Don Sebastian)

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