Economy, Bernanke comments in crosshairs

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were looking for direction early Tuesday ahead of the latest economic readings and much-anticipated comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Stock futures were little changed, as a comparison to fair value, which predicts the direction of stocks in early trading, pointed to a mixed open.

Stocks saw their worst day in months Monday on concerns about weak sales at No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores (Charts), higher oil prices and continued declines in the value of the dollar.

Oil was up again in early trading after rising above the $60 a barrel mark in Monday trading. U.S. crude was up 40 cents at $60.72 a barrel, while Brent crude futures gained 52 cents to $60.96.

Orders for durable goods saw their biggest drop in more than six years.

The Commerce Department said orders for big-ticket items fell 8.3 percent in October, far more than the 5 percent drop predicted by economists polled by Briefing.com.

At 10 a.m. ET comes the latest survey on Consumer Confidence as well as the National Association of Realtors' report about existing home sales and prices in October.

At 12:30 p.m. ET, Bernanke is due to speak to the National Italian American Foundation about current business conditions. His comments will be watched closely for clues about the future of interest rate decisions at the central bank.

While markets generally hope for signals about possible rate cuts, more hawkish statements could stem the recent slide in the value of the dollar, which has fallen on anticipation of rate hikes in Europe and Japan.

The dollar remained weak but was little changed against the euro, although it was up slightly against the yen in early trading ahead of those economic reports and Bernanke's comments.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.55 percent from 4.53 late Monday.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly lower Tuesday following the U.S. stock sell-off Monday.

Stocks in Europe were also lower in early trading. Spain's Iberdrola agreed Tuesday to buy Scottish Power (Charts) for $22.5 billion in cash and stock to create Europe's No. 3 utility.

In corporate news, Boeing (Charts) got a $5.7 billion order for its 737 jet from Air Berlin early Tuesday.

Online video-sharing service YouTube, which recently agreed to be purchased by Google (Charts), is set to announce an agreement to make its popular content available on cell phones through a partnership with Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (Charts) and Vodafone Group (Charts).

Palm (Charts) said late Monday a delay in shipping its new Treo 750 smartphone forced it to cut second-quarter profit and revenue forecasts. Shares lost 4 percent in after-hours trading.

More market news and futures ahead of U.S. open