U.S. Stocks Ready to Extend Their Advances

In economic news, the National Association of Realtors will release a report at 10 a.m. EST on pending home sales for October. Sales have been down in five of the first nine months of the year, and likely will decline again.

Bond prices continued to fall as investors put money back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 2.75% from 2.74% late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.02% from 0.01% on Monday, still indicating a high degree of investor uneasiness.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Oil prices edged downward amid investor expectations that OPEC will announce a big production cut next week to curb crude's stunning 70% freefall over the past five months. Light, sweet crude fell 31 cents to $43.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Stock markets were mixed overseas. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 1.9% after a big surge on Monday, while Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.8%. Major European bourses were higher ahead of the U.S. open, with Britain's FTSE-100 climbing 1.3%, Germany's DAX up 1.1%, and France's CAC-40 adding 1.6%.

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