By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a slightly higher open on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reinforced the Fed's plan to scale back its market-friendly stimulus while noting the health of the labor market needed to improve.
In her first public comments as Fed chief, Yellen, giving a balanced testimony to a House committee, acknowledged recent volatility in global financial markets but said it did "not pose a substantial risk to the U.S. economic outlook," and that she strongly supported the policy approach of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke.
"Obviously it's all about Yellen today," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
"We are setting ourselves up for what could be a volatile session if there are any negative surprises, by that I mean if she is not as dovish as the market may be expecting."
S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 1.75 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 26 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.5 points.
The central bank has cut its monthly bond-buying program by $10 billion at each of its last two meetings, reducing the total amount of purchases to $65 billion.
Sprint Corp
CVS Caremark Corp
Of 345 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Monday morning, 67.8 percent have beaten profit expectations, above the long-term average of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Almost 66 percent have topped revenue forecasts, above the historical average of 61 percent.
Conagra Foods lost 5.8 percent to $29.25 before the opening bell after the maker of Chef Boyardee pastas and Slim Jim beef jerky cut its full-year profit outlook, citing weaker profits in its private label business and lower sales of certain key brands in its consumer foods division.
Infloblox Inc
Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
