By Anora Mahmudova and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

Boeing, U.S. Steel rise on earnings beat

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Nasdaq futures rose sharply on Wednesday, as Apple Inc. shares surged in the wake of the iPhone maker's blowout earnings.

Other stock futures nudged higher as investors reacted to the latest round of upbeat results. Also on the day's calendar is the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Leading the way higher, futures for the Nasdaq-100 (NDH5) surged 43points, or 1%, to 4,220. Those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH5) climbed 17 points, or 0.1%, to 17,395, while futures for the S&P 500 index (SPH5) gained 5.7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,035.50.

Futures had wobbled earlier in the morning, and investors had a right to be wary, considering the carnage on Wall Street Tuesday. U.S. stocks saw the biggest drop in three weeks, hammered by disappointing earnings from economic bellwethers such as Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and a sharp fall in durable-goods orders. The S&P 500 index (SPX) fell 1.3%.

Apple and Fed: Apple was set to help turn sentiment around on Wednesday, at least for tech stocks, after reporting another record for its flagship iPhone, with 74.5 million phones sold in the fiscal first quarter. Profit rose 38% to a record high and shares jumped 9% in premarket trade.

Also read: This is what Apple analysts are worried about

The only economic event for Wednesday is the FOMC announcement, due at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The two-day meeting isn't expected to produce any major changes to the Fed's statement, and Goldman Sachs and others expect the first hike in short-term interest rates by September. But Ellen Zentner, economist at Morgan Stanley said Tuesday that she doesn't expect a Fed hike until March 2016, partly because the downward pressure on inflation is stronger than expected.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, wrote: "While the Fed has historically focused more on domestic needs than overseas trends when setting monetary policy, Tuesday's data highlight the central bank is in a bit of a spot right now. 2014 was a great year for the US economy but 2015 looks like it could be more mixed as the negative impact of lower energy prices on employment in the oilpatch and related industries can hit quick while it takes longer for the benefits of lower energy costs for businesses and consumers to work their way through."

A strong dollar, which has been cutting into corporate earnings, and weak oil prices has investors hoping the Fed will delay that hike, and they will be looking for a signal to support that from the statement.

Doubts grow about midyear rate hike, but Fed won't express any

Yahoo, Boeing in focus: Shares of Boeing (BA) gained 3.2% premarket after the company's fourth-quarter earnings beat forecasts.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) leapt 4.6% ahead of the bell after the Internet search engine late Tuesday said it would spin off its Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) stake into a separate, publicly traded company.

U.S. Steel Corp. (X) jumped 8.1% premarket after the steel producer's earnings topped Wall Street estimates.

Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) surged 32% after the medical device maker posted earnings that blew out Wall Street estimates.

On the downside, Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. could follow up a 13% late-session drop after weaker-than-expected results in its holiday quarter.

Shake Shack Inc. (SHAK) raised the terms for its initial public offering and said it will offer 5.75 million shares and expects them to be priced at $17-$19 a share.

Overseas markets: Europe stocks were mixed, with Greece suffering from another selloff after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stressed he will push for debt relief from the country's international creditors. The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (GREK) dropped 8.8% in premarket U.S. trade.

The Nikkei 225 index rose to a fresh one-month high as the yen weakened against the dollar and other currencies.

Crude-oil prices (CLH5) fell 92 cents to $45.31 a barrel, as another investment bank downgraded its forecast for the commodity. Barclays cut its forecasts for WTI crude to $42 a barrel for 2015 from $66 and $57 a barrel for 2016. For Brent crude, Barclays cut its forecast to $44 a barrel for 2015 from $72 and forecast $60 for 2015.

Gold prices (GCG5) drifted lower ahead of the FOMC meeting.

Sara Sjolin in London contributed to this report.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires