US STOCKS-Futures fall on Apple, IBM as China lifts rates

* Apple, IBM slide after earnings

* China raises one-year interest rates by 25 basis points

* Futures down: Dow 45 pts; S&P 9 pts; Nasdaq 26 pts

* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]

NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday as results from consumer and technology titans Apple and IBM disappointed investors and raised doubts about the strength of earnings in the third quarter.

Further weighing on stocks, China's central bank said it will raise its benchmark one-year lending and deposit rate by 25 basis points, effective Wednesday. Any signal that China is trying to cool its economy hampers equities.

"What we're looking for in the earnings reports is what companies have to say going forward," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

"The news out of China is probably impacting the first half of 2011. We don't want to see them cooling down."

Apple Inc's shares, which hit a lifetime high on Monday, fell more than 5 percent in premarket trade and ripped a hole through Nasdaq futures overnight after it reported its iPad shipments came in below expectations. It also issued a conservative outlook for the current quarter. [ID:nN18288374].

International Business Machines Corp said it won fewer technology services deals than expected in the third quarter, sending its shares 3.5 percent lower premarket, although it announced stronger profits and raised its full-year outlook. [ID:nN18152165].

Results from Bank of America Corp gave small support to equities, helping futures pare some losses. Shares of the largest U.S. bank by assets rose 1 percent in premarket trade. [ID:nN19106691].

S&P 500 futures dropped 9 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 fell 45 points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 26 points.

Ray Ozzie, the Microsoft Corp executive who took over the role of chief software architect from Bill Gates, is to step down, following a tenure in which the Windows-maker lost ground to Google and Apple. [ID:nN18289054].

Microsoft shares were down 2.5 percent premarket.

A number of Federal Reserve officials will be speaking on Tuesday, and the schedule includes remarks from Chairman Ben Bernanke at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT).

The U.S. Commerce Department releases housing starts and building permits for September at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 580,000 annualized housing-start rate versus 598,000 in August, and a total of 580,000 permits in September compared with 571,000 in the prior month.

U.S. stocks advanced on Monday as stronger-than-expected profit from Citigroup Inc helped financial shares shake off worries that an investigation into foreclosures could threaten the stability of the housing market. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)