Stocks set for positive open
Futures off previous lows on upbeat news from Bernanke, Wal-Mart, and April retail sales figures.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures were up Tuesday after rebounding from much lower levels from earlier in the morning. Investors began to cheer solid results from retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, an better-than-expected April retail report, and comments from Fed chief Ben Bernanke that the Fed's measures have boosted the economy somewhat.
With about a half-hour before the opening bell, Nasdaq and S&P futures were slightly better than fair value and pointing to a positive open for Wall Street.
Bernanke sees improvement. In prepared remarks delivered to a financial markets conference in Sea Island, Ga., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank's efforts to boost the economy appear to be working to ease the credit crisis, but still have a long way to go to return to normal.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday overall retail sales declined in April thanks to weakness at car dealers. But stripping out volatile auto sales, retail sales rose a much-more-than-expected 0.5% in the month.
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) posted slightly better-than-expected results, as the discount leader said tough economic times helped results. But it gave modest second-quarter guidance that was at or below forecasts.
At 10 a.m. ET will come a report on business inventories.
In major deal news, HP (HPQ, Fortune 500) confirmed after the close Monday that it is in talks to buy EDS (EDS, Fortune 500) for up to $13 billion. The move is seen as an attempt by HP to better compete with IBM (IBM, Fortune 500).
American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) Monday raised $11.9 billion to help strengthen its balance sheet, although that $38 a share price was less than the target it announced last week. The Dow component also announced it is going ahead with its annual meeting Tuesday, despite a push by its former CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg to delay the meeting in the face of the $7.81 billion loss it reported last week.
Airbus on Tuesday announced new delays on deliveries of the superjumbo A380 this year and next, saying it needs more time and resources to get the planes ready. Shares of Airbus owner EADS, which is due to report results Wednesday, fell 0.5% in Paris trading, while U.S. rival Boeing (BA, Fortune 500), which has had its own delay woes with its next generation jet, were little changed in early Frankfurt trading.
Oil is mixed. Oil prices retreated in early electronic trading, with a barrel of light sweet crude falling 33 cents to $123.90. But retail gasoline prices hit record highs for the sixth straight day, according to the survey by AAA.
In global trade, stocks in Japan and Hong Kong rallied. But China stocks sank after a major earthquake there. European stocks were mixed in morning trading. 
