9:05am (EST)
The market was trying to get back on track Tuesday and started off in positive territory shortly after the open, but quickly relinquished its gains after the Consumer Confidence report showed an unexpected drop. This caught Wall Street off guard and the negative tone lasted throughout the day.
The Dow fell 101 points yesterday to close at 10,282, the S&P slipped 13 to 1,094, while the Nasdaq lost 29 points to finish at 2,216.
Futures are slightly higher this morning ahead of Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress. The Federal Reserve chief will provide an outlook for interest rates and the economy over the next few days.
The government will be looking for clues on what the Fed can or will do to help create jobs and make the economic recovery last while Wall Street will want to know when interest rate tightening will begin.
As far as economic news, the Commerce Department is expected to show that new home sales rose in January, after declining sharply a month earlier. Sales of new homes could show a rise of up to 5.3% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 360,000 units, according to Wall Street’s numbers. The report will come 30 minutes after the opening bell.
As we head to press, Dow futures are up 6 to 10,304. S&P 500 futures have barely budged and stand at 1,097, while the Nasdaq 100 futures are higher by 4 points to 1,804.
We have a lot to cover in our Members Area this morning so let’s get in there!
]]>