NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks looked to get off to a rough start this week as investors look ahead to signals from new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the direction of interest rates and the nation's economic strength.

U.S. stock futures were down in early trading, indicating a lower open for U.S. markets. Bernanke is due to appear before congressional committees on Wednesday and Thursday, his first appearances as Fed chairman.

"It (Bernanke's testimony) is the overwhelming topic I've heard on our conference call this morning," said John Silvia chief economist for Wachovia. "They're being very defensive about what Bernanke is going to say. The feeling is it's going to seal the deal that they will raise the rates in May. A raise in March is already seen as a done deal."

The Fed has raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its last 14 meetings under recently retired Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. But at its last meeting the central bank said further hikes "may be needed," in contrast to its earlier statements that said that further hikes were "likely to be needed."

Silvia said traders are expecting Bernanke's comments to focus on the strength of the economy in the face of higher rates and the threat of higher prices.

"He'll keep up the Greenspan theme that the Fed's no. 1 goal is to keep inflation under control," said Silvia.

While the New York Stock Exchange confirmed it would open on time Monday following a heavy snow in the New York area over the weekend, trading volumes could be limited as market participants struggle to get to work Monday, which could add to market volatility.

Oil prices were lower in early trading after a meeting of finance ministers at the G8 meeting in Russia said that high energy prices threaten the world's economy and pledged to work towards price stability. The March light crude futures contract for NYMEX dipped 11 cents to $61.73 a barrel in electronic trading, while the March contract for Brent crude was down 4 cents to $59.60.

Major markets in Asia closed mostly lower Monday, while and major European markets were up in early trading.

Treasury prices were slightly lower, lifting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.59 from 4.58 percent late Friday. The dollar was slightly higher against both the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, The Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch & Co. (Research) is in talks to acquire a large stake in major money manager BlackRock for about $8 billion. PNC Financial Services Group (Research) owns about 62 percent of the firm.

A story in Barron's that argued that Google (Research) stock could be in for a sharp decline had shares of the Internet search engine down about 4 percent in Inet trading.

For a more detailed look at the markets before the open, click here.