Wall Street waits on Bernanke

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks appeared poised for a solid opening Tuesday as the July trade report showed U.S. exports rising, and investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Markets also looked to the latest housing forecast from an industry trade group.

At 8:40 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were higher.

The July trade balance report was in line with expectations at $59.25 billion, down 0.3 percent from a revised $59.43 billion in June.

Stocks have been trading in volatile fashion ahead of the Fed's meeting on Sept. 18. Investors are expecting the central bank to lower rates by at least a quarter of a percentage point, but are also hoping for as much as a half percentage point cut.

Attention will be focused on a speech Bernanke is due to give Tuesday in Berlin. As usual, investors will be on the lookout for any hints about what the Fed intends to do with interest rates next week.

Last month, Bernanke indicated the central bank is prepared to cut rates to protect the broader economy from the impact of the global credit crunch.

A disappointing employment report issued last week raised worries that the problems in the housing and financial markets are spreading to the rest of the economy.

But Tuesday, a survey of 14,000 companies released Tuesday by staffing firm Manpower Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500) showed 27 percent of companies expecting to increase their workforces during the fourth quarter, compared to only 9 percent planning to cut back on staff.

Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co., said that report is one of the factors lifting futures Tuesday.

"One of the biggest chills in the air is fears that we're in for several months in a row of official data showing a weak labor market," said Hogan. "To the extent that this survey challenges that fear, it's a positive."

Hogan said he doubts that Bernanke will say anything significantly different from his earlier comments. But he said that for him to simply speak again about the Fed being focused on economic growth will be a lift to stocks.

"If he solidifies the thought process that the Fed is more concerned with economic growth than inflation, the markets will celebrate that," Hogan said. "I think that's what markets are looking for."

But the markets could also have to deal with a more pessimistic economic outlook at 10 a.m. ET from the National Association of Realtors, which will update its monthly economic outlook at that point. The trade industry group has been cutting its forecasts for both the volume of home sales and prices regularly in its reports since the spring.

Shares in Asia closed mostly higher Tuesday, while major indexes in Europe were higher in early trading.

Treasury prices lower in early trading Tuesday, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.35 percent ahead of Bernanke's comments from the 4.32 percent level reached late Monday. The dollar was higher against the euro and the yen.

Oil prices were little changed in early trading Monday. A barrel of U.S. light crude rose 5 cents to $77.54 a barrel in electronic trading

In corporate news, embattled U.S. mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (Charts, Fortune 500) got more bad news late Monday when two of its largest shareholders - AllianceBernstein LP and Barclays Global Investors - said in regulatory filings Monday that they have cut their stakes in the company.

Wal-Mart Stores (Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest retailer and a Dow component, restated its second-quarter profit $153 million lower due to expenses from selling its German retail operations. Shares of Wal-Mart edged narrowly higher in Frankfurt trading, though.

General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) is moving forward with the development of lineup of electric cars, according to Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who was speaking at the opening of the Frankfurt Auto Show. Lutz also said GM, which had much better than expected U.S. sales in August, is spending less on incentives for its new crossover cars than it had initially planned.

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software (Charts) posted a smaller than expected loss after the close Monday, news that sent its shares 4 percent higher in after-hours trading.