Waiting for Greenspan

[notiCIas]

Waiting for Greenspan

Stock futures lower ahead of testimony due later Wednesday from Fed chairman.

February 16, 2005: 6:38 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks appeared set to open slightly lower Wednesday ahead of the mid-morning congressional testimony due from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

U.S. stock futures were below fair value, indicating lower opening for stocks.

Greenspan is set to start his semi-annual testimony to a Senate committee Wednesday, with investors listening for more clues on the pace of future interest rate hikes as well as his views on issues such as social security reform.


Major markets in Asia closed mostly higher, although Japan's Nikkei lost ground on a report that showed the economy there unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter. Major European markets were lower in early trading.

U.S. stocks start trading Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average at its high for the year after the major indexes all posted gains Tuesday.

Oil prices gained in early trading Wednesday, ahead of the weekly report on U.S. fuel inventories due Wednesday morning. The March light crude contract gained 38 cents to $47.64 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude contracts for April rose 17 cents to $45.56.

Treasury prices were up slightly, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 4.09 percent from 4.10 percent Tuesday. The dollar gained against the yen on the report on Japan's economy, while it was little changed against the euro.

Economic reports due Wednesday including the readings on housing starts and building permits, as well as on industrial production and capacity utilization at the nation's factories.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that housing starts fell to an annual pace of 1.93 million in January from a 2 million rate in December, while building permits are seen slipping to a 2 million rate from 2.03 million the previous month.

January industrial production is seen to have risen 0.3 percent, down from the 0.8 percent gain in December. Capacity utilization is forecast to edge up to 79.3 percent from 79.2 percent use in December.

In corporate news, Applied Materials (Research), which makes equipment used by computer chip makers, reported better than forecast gain in earnings in its fiscal first quarter. It shares gained edged slightly higher in after-hours trading.

Earnings reports are due Wednesday from two Dow components. Soft drink maker Coca-Cola (Research) is set to report before the market opens while Hewlett-Packard (Research), which last week forced out Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, reports after the market close.

Stock of Dow component Pfizer (Research) could come under pressure Wednesday due to an unusual three-day public review by two outside advisory committees of the Food and Drug Administration to consider the safety of COX-2 painkillers still on the market such as Pfizer's Celebrex and Bextra. Vioxx, the COX-2 drug from Merck (Research), was pulled off the market last year due to the risk of heart attack and stroke.