Stock Futures Climb Ahead of Bernanke's Testimony

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were rising Tuesday, indicating that the Dow and S&P 500 could bounce back from their declines in seven of the past eight sessions, as the markets brace for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Senate.

Investor sentiment was receiving a boost from a handful of better-than-expected earnings reports before market open.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were rising 45 points, or 30.79 points above fair value, at 12,693. Futures for the S&P 500 were up by 4.6 points, or 3.41 points above fair value, at 1352. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 were rising by 11 points, or 11.4 points above fair value, at 2583.

Bernanke is expected to begin speaking at 10 a.m. EDT.

"I don't think Bernanke will use this venue to announce QE3," cautioned Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Cetera Financial. "I don't think he will do anything other than reiterate the Fed's view from the FOMC meeting, that the economy weakening and that they stand ready. I can't imagine that he will differ from that message."

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the consumer price index was flat in June, as expected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters, after falling 0.3% in May. The core figure, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% in June, also as expected, and matched the prior month's rise.

Tuesday's U.S. economic calendar also features reports on industrial production, capacity utilization and homebuilders' confidence.

The Fed is predicted to say at 9:15 a.m. that industrial production rose 0.3% in June after falling 0.1% in May, and that capacity utilization rose to 79.2% from 79% previously.

At 10 a.m., the National Association of Home Builders is expected to report that its housing market index rose to 30 in July from 29 in June.

In corporate news, Goldman Sachs(GS) shares were rising 1.34% in premarket trading after the firm reported second-quarter earnings of $1.78 a share on revenue of $6.63 billion, beating the average analyst expectation of profit of $1.16 a share on revenue of $6.28 billion.