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LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - European shares were set to open steady on Wednesday as investors digested a flurry of earnings reports ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision later in the day.
Futures on the Euro STOXX 50 STXEc1 , Germany's DAX FDXc1 , France's CAC FCEc1 and Britain's FTSE 100 FFIc1 were 0.1 percent lower to 0.3 percent higher.
Beverage firms are set to be in focus after Heineken HEIN.AS reported strong sales growth in the Americas and Europe, while fellow brewer SABMiller SAB.L extended the deadline for suitor AB InBev ABI.BR to make a formal offer for the firm.
Among earnings disappointments, Norway's Statoil STL.OL posted a third-quarter operating profit below market forecasts and said it has cut its capital spending for this year by another $1 billion as the oil industry struggles with low crude prices.
With a quarter of STOXX Europe 600 .STOXX companies having reported results, 59 percent have beaten or met expectations, Thomson Reuters Starmine data showed.
The Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates unchanged after European markets close on Wednesday, and may struggle to convince skeptical investors it can tighten monetary policy before the end of the year in the face of U.S. and global economic headwinds.
"October's FOMC statement is likely to include dovish tweaks to the descriptions of payrolls and activity," strategists at BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) said in a note.
"We expect no clear signal about the timing of interest-rate 'lift-off'."
The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 closed 1 percent lower on Tuesday, edging further away from two-month highs hit late last week.
COMPANY NEWS
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP LLOY.L - Lloyds Banking Group has taken another 500 million pounds ($765 million) charge to compensate customers mis-sold loan insurance, taking its total bill to 13.9 billion pounds, more than double any other bank.
BARCLAYS BARC.L - Barclays Plc has appointed James 'Jes' Staley as its new chief executive and said the former JPMorgan (N:JPM) investment bank boss will take the helm of the British bank at the start of December.
SABMILLER SAB.L - Brewer SABMiller Plc has extended the deadline for rival Anheuser-Busch InBev ABI.BR to make a formal $100 billion-plus takeover offer by a week.
BT BT.L - Britain on Wednesday provisionally cleared BT's deal to buy mobile operator EE ORAN.PA DTEGn.DE in a 12.5 billion pound ($19 billion)tie up that will create the country's leading player in broadband, fixed line and mobile.
ANTOFAGASTA ANTO.L - Chile's Antofagasta Plc on Wednesday cut its full-year production forecast as the copper producer posted steady output in the third quarter versus the second.
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO PLC BATS.L
British American Tobacco , the world's No. 2 cigarette company, reported a 6.5 percent decline in revenue for the first nine months of the year, hurt by currency fluctuations and declines in smoking rates.
NEXT PLC NXT.L
British clothing retailer Next posted third-quarter sales in line with previous guidance and left full-year forecasts broadly unchanged.
STANDARD LIFE SL.L
British insurer and asset manager Standard Life saw net inflows of 2.4 billion pounds ($3.67 billion) in the third quarter, the firm said on Wednesday, beating analysts' expectations.
MEGGITT PLC MGGT.L
British engineering firm Meggitt said its full-year underlying operating profit would be "meaningfully" below forecasts due to weak demand in its energy division, prompting the group to look for further job cuts.
TRINITY MIRROR PLC TNI.L
Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror Plc said it would buy the shares it does not own in rival Local World Holdings Ltd in a deal that values the company at 220 million pounds ($337 million).
LINDE LING.DE
Indicated 1.5 percent lower
The world's biggest industrial gases company by sales reported quarterly adjusted core profit slightly below expectations as its engineering division continued to suffer from a weak order book due to the low oil price.
VONTOBEL VONN.S
The Swiss bank expects to post a better result in 2015 than the year before, it said in a third-quarter business update on Wednesday, and is open to making more buys to boost its private banking and asset management arms.
STATOIL STL.OL
The Norwegian oil major posted a third-quarter adjusted operating profit lower than forecasts and said it would cut its capital expenditure for 2015 by another $1 billion as the oil industry struggles on with low crude prices.
TELENOR TEL.OL
The Norwegian telecoms firm reported third-quarter core earnings above expectations but still revised down its full year revenue and margin guidance due to a failed merger in Denmark.
SOFTWARE AG SOWG.DE
The company reported its third-quarter net profit rose to 44.8 million euros from 30.4 million. It had already published preliminary figures on Oct. 13 and raised its full-year guidance.
LVMH LVMH.PA
The world's biggest luxury group appointed Anish Melwani to head operations in North America, starting Jan. 4.
SKANSKA SKAb.ST
The biggest construction group in the Nordic region said third-quarter order bookings were 33.9 billion Swedish crowns, above a mean forecast of 32.8 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.
DSV DSV.CO
The Danish transport and logistic group posted a bigger-than-expected rise in third quarter operation profit before special items and raised its full-year profit guidance.
REE REE.MC
Red Electrica said net profit rose to 448.8 million euros in the first nine months of the year from 414.8 million euros a year earlier.
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO UNBP.AS
Europe's largest commercial real estate company said nine-month sales rose 2.1 percent to 1.43 billion euros and confirmed its full-year guidance.
TECHNIP TECF.PA
The oil services company said it won a contract to supply its proprietary ethylene technology and PDP to PTTGC America LLC (PTTGCA), a subsidiary of Thailand's PTT Global Chemical, for a 1,000 KTA grassroots ethane cracker to be located in Belmont County, Ohio.
SOCIETE GENERALE SOGN.PA , CREDIT AGRICOLE CAGR.PA
Europe's biggest asset manager Amundi said its net income fell 15 percent in the third quarter and assets under management declined, hit by market turbulence due to worries about the global impact of a Chinese economic slowdown.
MAJOR MACROECONOMIC DATA/EVENTS (GMT) ECON :
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GfK Consumer Sentiment
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Import Prices
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Consumer Confidence
0900
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Business, Consumer confidence
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Mortgage data
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Adv Goods Trade balance
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Fed Funds Target Rate
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> Asia slips before Fed, Aussie drops on soft inflation
MKTS/GLOB
> US STOCKS-Wall St slips on rate uncertainty; Apple (O:AAPL) up after the bell
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> Nikkei rises in light trade ahead of Fed, BOJ meetings
.T
> TREASURIES-U.S. bond prices rise on weak durable goods data
US/N
> FOREX-Dollar edges up near 2-1/2-month high ahead of Fed outcome
FRX/
> PRECIOUS-Gold clings to gains, but caution prevails ahead of Fed
GOL/
> METALS-London copper slips, demand worries drag
MET/L
> U.S. crude rises after inventory draw at Cushing hub
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