US stocks head for mixed open

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks headed for a mixed open Tuesday following big back-to-back rallies and as investors awaited readings on consumer sentiment.

Some profit-taking was to be expected after a two-day rally sent the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 450 points.

Investors are looking for insights into whether the easing of some of Wall Street's fears in recent sessions is well-founded or overly optimistic. Stocks have charged higher in the days following the Federal Reserve's decision to aid investment banks and orchestrate a buyout deal for a near-collapsed Bear Stearns Cos. The Fed's actions helped shore up confidence in the market and quieted a notion that losses among Wall Street companies would turn cataclysmic.

A report on the housing sector showed a further pullback in home prices. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index shows U.S. home prices declined 11.4 percent in January from a year earlier.

A weak housing market is the root of much of the troubles Wall Street is now grappling with. So any sign the housing market is on the mend ¡X or has at least seen the worst of its decline ¡X would have been welcome news.

Also Tuesday, investors will be examining the Conference Board's survey on consumer confidence for March.

The mood on Main Street is key as consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of economic activity. Wall Street worries that consumers uneasy about the economy and their financial well-being are more likely to pare their spending.

The readings come a day after a surprise uptick in sales of existing homes helped send the Dow up 187 points.

Dow futures slipped 6, or 0.05 percent, to 12,534. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.40, or 0.03 percent, to 1,351.20. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 3.80, or 0.21 percent, to 1,823.00.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.49 percent from 3.55 percent late Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude rose 19 cents to $101.05 in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors overseas remained upbeat following the U.S. rallies Monday and last week. Rallies abroad appeared to help embolden U.S. investors early Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei stock average finished up 2.12 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 jumped 3.39 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 3.07 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 2.95 percent.

(Agencies)