Stock futures edge up; eyes on central bankers
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures edged slightly higher Tuesday, pointing to an uneventful start to the final session of a positive month for Wall Street, as investors focus on a two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers that ends Wednesday and an eagerly anticipated European Central Bank meeting Thursday. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-future...2012-07-31 Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (CBOT JU2) rose 23 points, or 0.2%, to 13,024.

S&P 500 Index futures (GLC:SPU2) gained 1.8 points to 1,382.30, while Nasdaq 100 futures (CME:NDU2) advanced 7.25 points to 2,643.
Expectations for action by both central banks have grown, fed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s mid-July congressional testimony and ECB President Mario Draghi’s pledge last week that the institution would do “whatever it takes” within its mandate to preserve the euro, wrote strategists at Barclays in London.

“We believe that disappointment is likely on both counts — we think the Fed will choose to wait for more decisive data [before providing more stimulus] and expect the ECB measures to be watered down versus market expectations — likely boosting market volatility and increasing demand for safer assets” such as the U.S. dollar, they said, in a research note.

Economists said they expect the Fed to take the small step of pledging to keep rates low for longer at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The Fed has so far pledged to keep rates extraordinarily low until late 2014. That could be extended until mid-2015, economists said.