NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Investors cautiously awaited for the latest signal from the Federal Reserve on how far it will go raising interest rates in the coming months.

U.S. stock futures were mixed in early trading, although a comparison to fair value indicated a slightly higher opening for stocks.

At 2:15 p.m. ET the Fed's Open Market Committee is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point for the 13th time since June 2004.

Investors will be closely watching the statement released at that time to see if the Fed continues to see rates rising at a "measured" pace, or whether that word has been dropped, which could be a signal the central bank is near the end of its course of raising rates.

Anthony Chan, senior economist for JPMorgan Asset Management, said he thinks the language in the statement will have enough wiggle room on the pace of future rate hikes to at least partially satisfy both bulls and bears. He said he thinks the key to what the Fed statement will mean for stocks Tuesday is not just what it suggests about the pace of future rate hikes, but what it sees as the current threat from inflation.

"If they (the Fed policy makers) hint that price pressures are or may be intensifying, the bears will win today's game, while any omission of such concerns will shift the victory over to the bulls," he said.

Oil prices turned higher. The January light crude futures contract for NYMEX gained 21 cents to $61.51 a barrel in electronic trading, while the January contract for Brent crude rose 5 cents to $59.49.

ConocoPhillips (Research) agreed late Monday to buy Burlington Resources (Research), a major independent producer of natural gas, in a cash-and-stock deal worth $35.6 billion, a signal that the company expects natural gas prices will remain high.

Major markets in Asia closed mixed Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting another five-year high while markets in Australia and Hong Kong lost ground. Major European markets also were mixed in early trading.

Treasury prices were higher, cutting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.54 percent late Monday. The dollar gained ground changed against the euro and the yen.

In economic news, the government is set to release a report on retail sales at 8:30 a.m. ET. Overall sales are forecast to be up 0.4 percent in November, compared to a drop of 0.1 percent in October, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Excluding autos, sales are forecast to be flat in October, after a 0.9 percent rise on that basis the month before.

A report on business inventories is due soon after the market opens.

In corporate news, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded General Motors (Research)' debt further into junk bond status, as S&P analyst Scott Sprinzen said that a bankruptcy at the world's largest automaker is not a "far-fetched possibility" if current trends continue.

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