A cautious open was on
tap Tuesday for Wall Street as investors kept an eye on oil prices and awaited word of possible
plant closings at General Motors.
Oil prices slipped to $127.73 a barrel in Asian
electronic trading, and remained about $8 below the record above $135 set May
22. Market participants are looking for clues about whether another run at the
record is imminent.
U.S. stocks finished
lower Monday, hurt
by new data showing a soft economy, S&P ratings cuts for some leading
investment banks and shakeups of management at banking companies Wachovia and
Washington Mutual.
This should give Ben Bernanke, chairman of the
Federal Reserve, plenty to talk about when he provides his economic outlook via
satellite to the International Monetary Conference at in Barcelona, Spain.
Also today the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on energy price
manipulation, federal enforcement, and the state of the oil and gas markets.
In addition, after the opening bell, the
Department of Commerce is expected to announce a 0.1% slip in factory orders in
April.
Corporate news: the automaker General Motors, which
is holding its annual meeting Tuesday, is expected to announce plans to
increase production of small and midsize cars, and close plants producing
trucks and SUVs. The company will join its rivals later in the day to s report
on auto and truck sales for the month of May.
The investment bank Lehman Brothers is
considering whether to raise up to $4 billion as it prepares to report its
first-ever quarterly loss as a public company, The Wall Street Journal reported
Tuesday. Lehman's stock fell 8% on Monday following negative reports from
analysts, and the company's losses could exceed $300 million when it reports
quarterly earnings in the week of June 16.