Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.23 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.26 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.07 percent at 3:06 a.m. ET.

Among the news expected to affect trading later in the day:

* The Federal Reserve looks set to launch a fresh effort to invigorate the faltering U.S. recovery, embarking on what could be the first in a series of incremental steps to foster stronger growth. The central bank appears likely to try to push long-term borrowing costs lower by rebalancing its $2.8 trillion portfolio of bond holdings to weight it more heavily to longer-term securities.

* General Motors Co's (GM.N) chief executive expressed concern about the risk of a recession in the United States, but said pent-up demand was likely because of the need to replace aging cars.

* Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) forecast earnings for the current quarter that are higher than expected, as well as robust software sales, offering some reassurance to investors hoping that global technology spending is holding up. Shares of the company traded in Frankfurt (ORCL.F) were up 0.9 percent.

* Design software maker Adobe Systems Inc's (ADBE.O) sales outlook for the fourth quarter was buoyed by new customer additions, allaying investor fears of a slowdown in its growth. Shares of the company traded in Frankfurt (ADBE.F) were up 4.7 percent.

* PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) said it is forming a council to bring together its food and beverage units to take advantage of the combined scale of the company's businesses.

* European shares were down 0.8 percent on Wednesday morning after strong gains in the previous day, with investors taking some money off the table ahead of the conclusion of the Fed meeting.

General motors Federal reserve Dow jones Oracle