Economic worries may hit stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A strong start to the earning season and some merger news may not be enough to give stocks a lift in the face of consumer worries about the economy.

Stock futures were mixed and little changed in early trading, while a comparison to fair value pointed to a weaker open for stocks.

A poll in the Los Angeles Times conducted for the paper and Bloomberg shows 60 percent of those surveyed believe a recession is somewhat or very likely in the next year, with more than a third saying their own finances are shaky.

Investors are waiting to see if Federal Reserve policymakers share those worries. At 1 p.m. ET Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak at the Global Economic Policy Forum at New York University. Then at 2 p.m. the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its most recent meeting.

Oil prices were little changed in early trading, as traders await the weekly report on U.S. fuel inventories, due at 10:30 a.m. ET. U.S. light crude edged up 3 cents to $61.92 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices edged higher ahead of the release of the Fed minutes, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.71 percent from 4.72 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was higher versus the yen but little changed against the euro.

Stocks in Asia closed mixed, with the Kospi in Seoul hitting a record high but Japan's Nikkei little changed. Stocks in Europe gained in early trading.

Aluminum producer Alcoa kicked off first quarter earnings season after the bell Tuesday by reporting better than expected results. Shares of Alcoa (Charts), the best performing component of the Dow Jones industrial average so far this year, gained 2.4 percent in after-hours trading following the report.

Nasdaq Stock Market (Charts), the nation's No. 2 stock exchange, is in talks to acquire the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in a bid to break into the options-trading business, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that values the Philadelphia exchange at between $250 million and $300 million.

The Journal also reports that a top DaimlerChrysler (Charts) official is expected to meet with bidders this week for the Chrysler Group, although announced bidder Kirk Kerkorian is not invited to attend. Kerkorian's announcement of a $4.5 billion cash bid help lift the automaker's shares last week, and shares slipped 0.5 percent in Frankfurt trading Wednesday.

The chief executive of KB Home (Charts), the nation's No. 5 home builder by revenue, said Tuesday he expects the housing slump to worsen, even though sales have improved in some areas of the U.S.

Microsoft (Charts) warned Tuesday evening of four security flaws in its software that it categorized as "critical" that could allow attackers to gain control of a user's computer.

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