Hoping to fuel a rally

[notiCIas]

Stock futures point to higher open as oil prices fall ahead of weekly oil and gas inventory report.

June 21, 2006: 7:02 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks could get a lift from lower oil prices ahead of the weekly U.S. fuel inventory report.

Stock futures were mixed in early trading Wednesday, although a comparison to fair value indicated a higher open for a day with no new economic readings.

Oil prices were lower on expectations of a build in gasoline supplies.

The August light crude futures contract for NYMEX lost 24 cents to $69.10 in electronic trading, while the August contract for Brent crude fell 23 cents to $67.85, although both prices were up from earlier lows for the day.

In corporate news, chipmaker Texas Instruments (Charts) had its long-term debt upgraded to A1 from A2 by credit rating service Moody's. But shares of TI were still slightly lower in Frankfurt trading Wednesday.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley (Charts) and express and freight company FedEx (Charts) are both due to report earnings before the market opens Wednesday. Morgan Stanley shares badly have trailed its Wall Street rivals.

Martin Taylor, the Microsoft (Charts) executive who has been leading the software company's efforts to compete with companies such as Google (Charts) and Yahoo! (Charts), is leaving the company, the software provider announced late Tuesday. Taylor was appointed in March to lead its efforts to unite its various Web programs under the Windows Live brand.

Major markets closed mixed Wednesday in Asia, with Japan's Nikkei little changed, South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slightly lower while shares in Australia posted gains. Major European markets were lower in early trading.

Treasury prices were little changed Wednesday, leaving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note at the 5.15 percent level reached late Tuesday. The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.