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Stocks: Bernanke spooks investors

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stocks were set to open lower Wednesday, as gloomy comments about the economic outlook from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke continue to weigh on investors.

Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were lower ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, after Bernanke dashed hopes that the central bank would provide additional economic stimulus.

“Bernanke did nothing to dissuade fears about slow economic growth,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “And he all but squashed any hope that there would be a revival of the Fed’s quantitative easing program.”

Speaking in Atlanta, the Fed chairman acknowledged that economic growth this year has been slower than expected. Twice, he called the job market “far from normal,” and conceded that “the economy is still producing at levels well below its potential.”

While his comments weren’t necessarily a surprise to investors, they simply reaffirmed the dismal economic picture that recent data has signaled.

“It wasn’t so much that investors were surprised, it was that [Bernanke] didn’t say anything surprisingly good,” said Luschini. “While he said the slow growth is transitory and we’ll see more growth, he couched that hope by not offering QE3 as an olive branch to investors.”

Economy: The Federal Reserve will release its “Beige Book” at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday. The book is a collection of economic anecdotal observations by the Fed’s 12 regional banks. It’s used by the central banks as part of their decision making regarding interest rates.

Companies: Shares of Citigroup slipped 1% in premarket trading, after the bank agreed to sell a $1.7 billion portfolio of private equity assets to Axa Private Equity Wednesday.

Shares of Ford rose nearly 1% before the opening bell Wednesday, after the auto giant announced Tuesday that it plans to boost sales worldwide by 50%.

Hovnanian reported disappointing earnings results after the market close Tuesday, sending shares of the homebuilder about 5% lower Wednesday morning.

World markets: European stocks slumped in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 1.1%, the DAX in Germany dropped 1.4% and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.2%.

The declines came amid reports that Moody’s has determined the U.K.’s credit rating is at risk of being downgraded.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite ticked up 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei added 0.1%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.9%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro and the British pound, but slipped versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for July delivery dipped 89 cents to $98.20 a barrel. OPEC is holding a meeting Wednesday in Vienna, during which the organization is expected to boost oil production.

Gold futures for August delivery fell $9 to $1,535 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged up, pushing the yield down to 2.98% from 2.99% late Tuesday.

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