Before the bell: All eyes on Fed

Stock futures were tightly mixed Tuesday as investors looked ahead to this afternoon's interest rate announcement from the Federal Reserve Board. The Fed is widely expected to lower the Federal Funds rate -- the rate of interest banks charge each other -- by a quarter point, although forecasts of a half-point cut are growing.

In addition to the Fed's afternoon announcement, the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce will release wholesale inventories for October this morning at 10.

On Monday, the Dow closed at 13,727.03 and the S&P 500 finished at 1,515.96, each higher by three-quarters of a percent. The Nasdaq reached 2,718.95, 0.47 percent higher. U.S. stocks were boosted by anticipation of interest rate cuts and an improved outlook on home sales. The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that pending-sales of homes had climbed 0.6% in October, increasing for a second-straight month following a long skid.

After Monday's close, Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) announced it will discontinue subprime mortgage lending and plans to cut 2,600 jobs in its home loans division. WaMu will write-down the value of its loans unit by $1.6 billion and now expects to report a loss in the fourth quarter, echoing similar news Monday from Swiss bank UBS (NYSE: UBS).

Top grocer Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) is due to report quarterly results on Tuesday; analysts expect EPS of 35 cents per share. Tax preparer H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), initially scheduled to report second-quarter earnings Monday, now says it will not file on time.

Overseas, the dollar was little changed against the euro, and rose from 111.67 to 112.11 yen. The Nikkei 225 climbed 0.8% to close above 16,000, while London's FTSE 100 slipped in morning trades.