Dados para hoje nos EUA: FED - 19:15

[notiCIas]

Cracking the Bernanke code

Stock futures higher ahead of Fed meeting. Investors want a with a concise Fed statement to end economic-number and Fed-signal interpretive dance.

June 29 2006: 6:31 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were looking for a strong start before a much anticipated meeting of the Federal Reserve, which is expected to give investors and economists an idea about future interest rate hikes.

Stock futures rose in early trading, indicating a higher open for the market, although the direction of stocks could change quickly at 2:15 p.m. ET, when the Fed concludes its two-day meeting.

A rate hike of at least a quarter percentage point is virtually certain, with some investors speculating there could be a half-point hike. But assuming the Fed goes with the more widely anticipated quarter-point hike, the market reaction will hinge on clues contained in the Fed's statement.

Stocks could rally following the meeting even if it is little different from earlier statements, as investors would be relieved that they at least would have a concise statement to look at, instead of just trying to interpret economic numbers and other Fed signals. Those signals have roiled global equity markets over the last six weeks.

Oil prices rose in early trading, continuing Wednesday's rally in the face a government report that showed a drop in U.S. fuel supplies.

The August light crude futures contract for NYMEX gained 18 cents to $72.37 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent rose 54 cents to $71.95. Major markets closed higher in Asia ahead of the Fed decision. Major European markets were sharply higher in early trading. BP (Charts), the continent's largest oil company, were up more than 1 percent in London trading, even as the U.S. futures industry regulator charged Wednesday that a U.S. unit of the company tried to manipulate propane prices in the U.S. by cornering the market in February 2004.

Treasury prices were little changed in early trading, leaving the yield on the 10-year note at the 5.24 percent level reached late Wednesday. That puts the long-term rate just below the expected fed funds rate, the key short-term rate target set by the Fed.

The dollar was higher against the euro and little changed against the yen.

Economic reports due Thursday include the final revision in the first quarter gross domestic product reading, the broad measure of the nation's economic activity. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the annual pace of growth will come in at a 5.6 percent rate, up from the previous reading of 5.3 percent.

In corporate news, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the debt at Ford Motor (Charts) deeper into junk bond status late Wednesday, but in an interview with Wall Street Journal, Chairman and CEO Bill Ford said the company is facing stronger headwinds than anticipated, but he ruled out bankruptcy as an option for the nation's No. 2 automaker or that his family would take the company private in response to its low share price. Shares of Ford were down another 0.6 percent in early Frankfurt trading.

Media conglomerate Walt Disney Co. (Charts) named ex-Procter & Gamble CEO and Disney director John Pepper as non-executive chairman, succeeding former Senator George Mitchell, the company announced after the market close Wednesday. Shares of the Dow component lost nearly 1 percent in Frankfurt trading early Thursday.