Stocks headed for lower open
Futures fall as investors react to higher-than-expected jobless claims and await Bernanke's testimony on Bank of America-Merrill deal.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were headed for a lower open Thursday as investors reacted to a worse-than-expected report on unemployment and awaited congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
At 8:40 a.m. ET, S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were lower.
Stocks ended mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left its key short-term interest rate unchanged, but did not elaborate on plans aimed at keeping long-term rates from spiking.
Manus Cranny, market analyst at MF Global, described the market as "essentially greedy and just wants more, more, more from the Fed."
He said investors had realized that "you've had everything that you're going to get from the Fed, and we need to see how quickly or slowly those processes work through the system."
Economy: The Labor Department's weekly report on jobless claims showed an increase of 15,000 to 627,000 in the week ended June 20. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting first-time unemployment benefits to slip to 600,000.
At the same time, the government's revised reading on first-quarter GDP growth showed the economy shrank at an annual rate of 5.5%. This is compared to the 5.7% decline forecast by Briefing.com's economist consensus.
After the opening bell, Bernanke will testify before the House Oversight Committee regarding Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500)'s purchase of Merrill Lynch last year.
Companies: Packaged food company ConAgra (CAG, Fortune 500) reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 39 cents per share, missing Wall Street estimates. Analysts forecast that the company earned 42 cents per share in the quarter versus 44 cents a year earlier.
ConAgra forecast that diluted EPS from continuing operations would be $1.63 to $1.66 for fiscal year 2010, excluding certain items.
Consulting firm Accenture and smartphone maker Palm are due to report earnings after the closing bell.
Accenture (ACN) is forecast to report third-quarter earnings of 64 cents per share, down from 74 cents in the prior year.
Palm (PALM) is seen reporting a loss of 62 cents per share for its fiscal fourth quarter. That compares with a loss of 22 cents a year earlier.
Other markets: Asian stocks ended sharply higher, with Tokyo's Nikkei index up more than 2%. European markets were lower in midday trading.
Oil for August delivery was up 75 cents to $69.42 a barrel.
The dollar riose against major international currencies, including the euro, the yen and British pound. 
