Before the bell: Stocks to rebound, but investors remain cautious

U.S. stocks were set to bounce back Wednesday morning according to early futures indicators following a sharp sell-off Tuesday. Not much has changed, however, as investors remained concerned with Geithner's plan to help the U.S. banking system, or rather the lack of details. Investors also feel there isn't much change from the previous plan.

Meanwhile, negotiations intensified Wednesday regarding President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package after it was reported that negotiators were making good progress in the first rounds of closed-door talks. The $838 billion economic stimulus bill was approved Tuesday by the Senate.



Today, at 10:00 am Eastern, eight CEOs of bailed-out firms, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Ken Lewis of Bank of America and Vikram Pundit of Citigroup, will face Congress and questions about how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers' money.
Overseas, world stock markets were mostly lower Wednesday, not surprising after Wall Street's large declines on Wednesday. International investors joined their American counterparts as they voiced their skepticism to Geithner's rescue plan for the financial sector, which could mean as much as $2 trillion in funding.

Economic indicators today include December Trade Balance, which is due out at 8:30 am, and the January Treasury Budget to be released at 2:00 pm.

At 10:35 am, weekly crude inventories will be reported. Oil prices remained below $38 a barrel ahead of today's numbers despite evidence OPEC countries are complying with their agreed production cuts as the bank rescue plan affected that trade too. A dismal demand forecast by the International Energy Agency didn't help crude prices much either. further discouraged a recovery in crude prices.

Stocks in the news: MT, AMAT, NVDA, MJN, SIRI, CS, DF, NKE, RIMM, RTP ...