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Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wednesday as initial enthusiasm over the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut faded and investors focused on the dismal economic outlook.

Shares of financials were in the spotlight for a second day with Morgan Stanley (MS.N) expected to report a quarterly loss as the former investment bank tries to transform itself into a deposit-gathering institution.

On Tuesday, the Fed rewrote its policy playbook by slashing borrowing costs to a record low, even zero, and pledging more unconventional steps to fight the deepest recession in generations, causing stocks to jump.

"There's a good feeling from the Fed statement, but this is going to take a long time to work itself out, so I'm not expecting any long-term miracles," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

"Nothing has changed from yesterday to today in terms of where we are in this economic disaster that's taking place here." The United States fell into recession a year ago, and the economies in Japan and the European Union are also contracting, among others.

S&P 500 futures fell 13.40 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 130 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gave up 14.50 points.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said that Chief Executive Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote address at the Macworld trade show next month, reviving concern about his health and sending the company's shares down 3 percent in trading before the bell.

Investors will also be taking in quarterly results from Nike (NKE.N) and ConAgra (CAG.N).

OPEC oil ministers were meeting to remove a record 2 million barrels per day from oil markets in an attempt to balance supply with falling global demand for fuel.

Tuesday's rally pushed the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index to its highest closing level since November 10 and drove each of the major U.S. stock indexes to their best one-day performance for the month. However, so far this year the S&P is down about 38 percent.