Stocks head for slightly higher opening before GDP

[August 27, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are headed for a slightly higher opening as investors wait for two readings on the economy.

The first reading will be numerical: the Commerce Department's latest estimate of the economy's growth from April through June, as measured by the gross domestic product. Economists expect that GDP rose at a very modest annual rate of 1.4 percent.

The second assessment will come in a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who speaks at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Stock index futures, which tend to forecast the opening of trading, are higher. Dow Jones industrial futures are up 26 at 9,993. Standard & Poor's 500 futures are up 3.50 at 1,048.30. And Nasdaq 100 futures are up 3.8 at 1,771.2.

[Associated Press; By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG]

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