Indexes dragged down by Apple, oil

By Abhiram Nandakumar

REUTERS - Apple's tepid forecast and a renewed slide in oil prices pulled Wall Street lower on Wednesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve's statement on monetary policy.

Apple's shares were down 4 percent at $95.95 after the company also reported its slowest-ever rise in iPhone shipments on Tuesday. The stock was the biggest influence on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Crude prices resumed their decline on Wednesday after an unexpected rise in U.S. inventories erased optimism about the possibility of the world's top producers coming together to address a massive glut.

Global stocks took a hit from the slump in oil, as anxious investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve's statement on monetary policy due at 2:00 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).

"Markets are not happy and they haven't been happy the whole month," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer of equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management in New York.

"Generally, for the whole month, people have been concerned about global growth, China, and really, really concerned about oil," he said.

While an interest-rate hike is not expected today, investors will be keen to see the Fed's reaction to the turmoil in global markets.

At 9:36 a.m. ET (1436 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 121.14 points, or 0.75 percent, at 16,046.09, the S&P 500 was down 5.88 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,897.75 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 14.68 points, or 0.32 percent, at 4,553.00.

Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by the 1.35 percent fall in energy stocks. Exxon and Chevron weighed the most.

Boeing dropped 7 percent to $119.01 after the company's earnings forecast missed expectations. The stock weighed the most on the Dow.

Textron slid 9.7 percent to $34.09, while Tupperware sank 13.1 percent to $44.73 after both companies posted revenue that missed estimates.

VMware was down 9.6 percent at $44.55 after its 2016 forecast was weaker than expected.

TripAdvisor was down 4.9 percent, Priceline was off 3.2 percent and Expedia fell 1.8 percent, after Goldman Sachs downgraded travel-related stocks.

Among the few gainers, Biogen was up 5.2 percent at $273.29 after its profit and revenue beat expectations.

Tech majors Facebook, Qualcomm and eBay are slated to report after the close.

Data is expected to show U.S. single-family home sales rose for the third straight month in December. The report is due at 10:00 a.m.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,783 to 855. On the Nasdaq, 1,246 issues fell and 865 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed one new 52-week high and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded two new highs and 14 lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)