European stocks were mixed in early trading while Wall Street futures edged modestly higher as global investors pull back from record highs ahead of the first day of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day rate setting meeting.

U.S. equity futures, however, still suggest another all-time high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of trading today after Monday's record close -- the fifth in a row -- for the benchmark and smaller gains for the broader S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq. 

In Europe, the broadest measure of share prices, the Stoxx Europe 600, slipped 0.14% by 10:00 am London time as a weaker U.S. dollar lifted the euro to around 1.1986 and held down gains for regional equities. Britain's FTSE 100, however, clawed its way into a 0.18% advance thanks in part to a softer pound, which slipped to 1.3492 by mid-morning in London.

Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 leaped 2% in its first trading session of the week to close at a two-week high of 20, 299.38 points as investors returned from a national holiday Monday buoyed by a weaker yen and speculation of a possible snap election announcement later this week from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The broadest measure of regional shares, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, was marked 0.1% higher by the end of the session.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six global currencies, slipped 0.16% to 91.88 during European trading hours while benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yields were marked at 2.22%, some 20 basis points from their early September lows in the immediate wake of Hurricane Harvey.

With futures prices pointing to a 55.8% chance of a Fed rate hike during its December meeting, but only a 2% chance of a change in the Fed's 1% to 1.25% target rate on Wednesday, investors are now focused on details regarding the central bank's plans to begin reducing its $4.1 trillion balance sheet and its economic projections for 2018.

U.S. crude prices weakened overnight, partly as a result of a U.S. Energy Information Administration statement that October shale production is likely to rise to around 6.1 million barrels per day, before rebounding during European hours past $50 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for October were seen 0.2% higher at $50.18 by 10:15 London time while Brent contracts for November, the benchmark for global prices, were marked 0.27% lower at $55.62.