Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk
CNBC.com
After days of focusing on European debt woes, the Fed is beginning to grab more of the spotlight for investors.
Following yesterday's revelation about QE3-related discussions at the most recent meeting of Fed policymakers, chairman Ben Bernanke will begin his two days of semi-annual economic testimony before Congress today, with questions likely to focus on what else the Fed can or should do to jumpstart the slow economic recovery.
He'll speak before the House Financial Services Committee today at 10am ET, with a similar date before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow.
U.S. stocks are coming off three days of losses, following a volatile session yesterday which saw the Dow move between gains and losses 86 times during the session.
There won't be much in the way of economic reports as we await the Bernanke testimony, although the government is set to issue June import and export prices at 8:30am ET.
The Treasury will auction $21 billion in 10-year notes today, with results available shortly after 1pm ET.
And we'll see the June federal budget statement at 2pm ET, two hours before President Obama and Congressional leaders meet once again to try to work out a debt limit extension agreement.
Economists think the June deficit came in at $62 billion, following May's shortfall of of $68.4 billion.
We'll also get two weekly Wednesday reports: the Mortgage Bankers Association's mortgage applications report at 7am ET, and the EIA's weekly reading of oil and gasoline inventories at 10:30am ET.
The earnings calendar is relatively light today, with the two most notable reports coming after the closing bell.
Hotel operator Marriott (MAR) and Yum Brands, the parent of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut will be out with quarterly numbers shortly after 4pm ET.
We'll watch shares of Electronic Arts (ERTS) today, as it announces a deal to buy PopCap Games for $1.3 billion.
Shares of Oracle (ORCL) are also on our watch list, as SAP heads to court in Oakland, CA to try to slash or toss out a $1.3 billion dollar verdict it suffered at Oracle's hands.
The case involved accusations that SAP wrongfully downloaded millions of Oracle files.
And News Corp. (NWSA) remains firmly on investor radar today, as the UK Parliament gets set to approve a motion calling on the company to drop its bid to buy the portion of broadcaster BSkyB that it doesn't already own.
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