Stock Futures Surge Before Bernanke Speech

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were strengthening Friday, pointing to a sharply higher open for Wall Street amid confidence that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hint at more accommodation for the economy during his speech on monetary policy Friday at the annual Jackson, Wyo., economic symposium.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were rising 113 points, or 106.29 points above fair value, at 13,095. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 12.90 points, or 12.02 points above fair value, at 1410. Futures for the Nasdaq were ahead by 27.50 points, or 28.76 points above fair value, at 2781.

Paul Donovan, global economist at UBS, cautioned ahead of Bernanke's speech that "those hoping for hints as to September policy action are likely to be disappointed. Hoping for a hint of the September FOMC outcome is probably wishing for the wrong thing anyway."

"The value of the Fed Chairman's speech will be if he elaborates on the philosophy of monetary policy today. Economists want to understand how policy makers perceive policy is interacting with the economy (as so much has changed), to get a better understanding of longer term policy trends."

Bernanke is set to speak at 10 a.m. EDT.

U.S. stocks finished deep in the red on Thursday, driven lower by a rekindling of worries about Europe's debt crisis and uneasiness about an upcoming speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

At 9:45 a.m. EDT, the Chicago Institute of Supply Management is expected to report that Chicago purchasing managers index fell in August to 53.5 from 53.7 in July.

The final read on the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for August, which comes out at 9:55 a.m., is expected to stay at 73.6, the same as the preliminary read.

At 10 a.m., the Census Bureau might release data showing that factory orders rose 1.9% in July after declining 0.5% in June.

The FTSE in London was up 0.61% and the DAX in Germany was tacking on 1.34%, both steadily gaining ground even after another round of soft employment numbers out of Europe. The eurozone jobless rate hit a record high in July and the Italian unemployment rate remained elevated at a seasonally adjusted 10.7% last month.