Preopen Trading: Technology in for a Positive Open

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will deliver the second round of his Humphrey Hawkins testimony to the House Financial Services Committee today. And you know what that means -- another mind-numbing, spine-tingling, soul-searching speech about the state of the U.S. economy.

Ahead of that, futures were right around break-even. European markets were lower around the midpoint of their trading day, and Asian markets, particularly Japan, got no sleep last night, sliding yet again.

Expect today's speech to be a doozy. Last week's higher-than-expected consumer price and producer price indices pointed to inflation, manufacturing spending and consumer confidence have sunk to lows, plus warnings from many major companies have hit the Street. There is a lot of uncertainty out there, and the Fed chief could do much to assuage fears with a kind speech. That said, the bears have been running the show lately, and if they don't like what they hear -- today could be a rough-and-tumble day. ...