Stocks look to be skiddish (futuros EUA em terreno negativo)

[notiCIas]

Stocks look to be skiddish

Heavy New York snow won't stop markets, but futures are lower on concerns about upcoming comments from new Fed chairman.

February 13, 2006: 6:14 AM EST


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks looked to get off to a rough start this week as investors look ahead to signals from new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the direction of interest rates and the nation's economic strength.

U.S. stock futures were down in early trading, indicating a lower open for U.S. markets. Bernanke is due to appear before congressional committees on Wednesday and Thursday, his first appearances as Fed chairman.

A heavy snow in the New York area over the weekend could limit trading volumes as market participants struggle to get to work Monday, which could add to market volatility.

Oil prices were little changed in early trading after a meeting of finance ministers at the G8 meeting in Russia said that high energy prices threaten the world's economy and pledged to work towards price stability.

The March light crude futures contract for NYMEX gained 1 cent to $61.85 a barrel in electronic trading, while the March contract for Brent crude up 7 cents to $59.71.

Major markets in Asia closed mostly lower Monday, while and major European markets were up in early trading.

Treasury prices were slightly lower, lifting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.59 from 4.58 percent late Friday. The dollar was slightly higher against both the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, The Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch & Co. (Research) is in talks to acquire a large stake in major money manager BlackRock for about $8 billion. PNC Financial Services Group (Research) owns about 62 percent of the firm.

A story in Barron's that argued that Google (Research) stock could be in for a sharp decline had shares of the Internet search engine down about 5 percent in European trading early Monday.