US equity futures fell ahead of Tuesday's opening bell as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day Federal Open Market Committee rate policy setting meeting.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.7%, S&P 500 futures slipped 0.9%, and Nasdaq futures were down 1.2%.

The FOMC is scheduled to release a policy statement at the conclusion of its meeting at 2 pm Wednesday. Analysts are expecting no change in the Federal Funds target rate range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 2.4% at $61.68 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 2.6% higher at $58.59 per barrel.

US trade deficit, released at 8:30 am ET, widened to $140.5 billion in March from $123.2 billion previously, compared with estimates compiled by Bloomberg for a $137.2 billion gap.

In other world markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.7% higher, China's Shanghai Composite finished 1.1% higher, while the Japanese market was closed for holiday. UK's FTSE 100 slipped 0.04%, and Germany's DAX fell 0.7% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, Titan America (TTAM) shares advanced 4% pre-bell, a day after the company reported higher Q1 earnings.

On the losing side, Orthofix Medical (OFIX) shares slumped nearly 24% after the company reported a wider Q1 loss year over year.