Tech, witches, inflation, oh my!

[notiCIas]

Tech, witches, inflation, oh my!

Stock futures point to mixed open on quadruple witching day as investors wait for latest guidance on interest rates and weigh news from Microsoft, Oracle and KB Home.
June 16, 2006: 6:24 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks investors were looking for direction the day after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke caused a late-day rally in markets.

U.S. stock futures were slightly lower in early trading, as a comparison to fair value indicated a flat or mixed open for U.S. markets, after a rally that lifted the Dow Jones industrial average nearly 200 points Thursday.

U.S. stocks could see head winds from the quadruple witching options expiration Friday, along with mixed news from software late Thursday.

Microsoft (Charts) Chairman Bill Gates made a surprise announcement Thursday that he would be leaving day-to-day responsibilities at the company in two years to concentrate on his charitable foundation, while Oracle (Charts) said its fiscal fourth quarter earnings and sales beat its earlier guidance.

Shares of Dow component Microsoft slipped in after-hours trading Thursday following the announcement, although it was higher in Frankfurt trading early Friday. Shares of Oracle were up more than 5 percent in Europe.

In other corporate news, home builder KB Home (Charts) reported better than expected second quarter earnings after the market close Thursday, but it lowered it guidance for 2006 due to the slowing housing market. Shares of KB Home slipped 0.2 percent in after-hours news.

Earlier Thursday afternoon Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a response to a question at a Chicago speech, suggested that the central bank is watching inflation pressures closely, but that it mightnot need to keep raising rates to battle inflation.

"When inflation expectations are anchored ... the monetary policy response can be more limited," Bernanke said.

The comment was enough to lift U.S. stocks late Thursday, and it spurred major markets in Asia to a higher close Thursday. Major European markets also were up in early trading. The dollar was lower against the euro and little changed against the yen.

Friday will see comments from two more Fed officials, St. Louis Fed President William Poole and Fed Gov. Donald Kohn. Economic reports due Friday include the University of Michigan report on consumer confidence.

Treasury prices were little changed, leaving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note near the 5.09 percent level reached late Thursday.

Oil price were mixed in early trading, coming off of earlier highs for the day.

The July light crude futures contract for NYMEX was up 20 cents to $69.70 in electronic trading, while the August contract for Brent crude slipped 5 cents to $68.40.