Stocks set for early bounce

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised to claw higher early Tuesday, following a recent string of losses, as investors await comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the state of the economy.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were higher ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

Stocks fell Monday, as investors weighed losses in the financial sector with recent downbeat economic data.

A variety of reports, namely Friday's disappointing jobs data, have signaled a slowdown in the recovery and that's making investors nervous.

"There are worries that the U.S. economy is sputtering and global economic growth is slowing," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets.

In addition, the Federal Reserve's $600 billion stimulus will run out later this month.

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Bernanke is scheduled to speak Tuesday before the International Monetary Conference at 3:45 p.m. ET. Investors will be listening closely.

Any mention of more stimulus would help prop up markets, Jones said. Even if more quantitative easing doesn't end up being introduced, Jones said he doesn't think the market's recent downturn will continue.

"The stock market has had a big slide over the past month, but the recovery from the lows on the Dow in March 2009 is still going strong," he said. "This is just a pause in the trend."

Economy: The Federal Reserve will release its consumer credit report for April at 3 p.m. ET.

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Analysts polled by Briefing.com expect credit to remain steady at $6 billion.

Late Monday, President Obama's top economic adviser Austan Goolsbee announced he is leaving the administration to return to teaching.

Companies: Ford (F, Fortune 500) plans to boost worldwide production 50% by mid-decade, to 8 million vehicles a year, CNN confirmed.

Ford plans to ramp up production on small vehicles and focus on emerging markets. Shares of the auto giant rose more than 1% in premarket trading.

Shares of International Paper Co. (IP, Fortune 500) jumped more than 4% in premarket trading, after the company offered to buy Temple-Inland (TIN) for $3.38 billion in cash late Monday. Temple-Inland's board rejected the offer. The company's stock soared 44% premarket.

Shares of Regions Financial Corp. (RF, Fortune 500) perked up more than 1% in early trading, following an announcement that its banking unit will buy a $1 billion credit card portfolio from FIA Service.

After the bell, home builder Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) is slated to report its second-quarter results. The company is expected to post a loss of 51 cents on revenue of $263 million.

World markets: European stocks were higher in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 inched up 0.3%, the DAX in Germany jumped 0.7% and France's CAC 40 added 0.6%.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite jumped 0.6% and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.7%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.4%.

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Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro and the British pound, but gained slightly versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for July delivery dipped 13 cents to $98.88 a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery gained $2.80 to $1,550 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slipped, pushing the yield up to 3.03% from 3.01% late Monday.