Stock futures were lower this morning, indicating the two-day advance may have been short lived and stocks could slide at the open. News of more writedowns, this time at American Express and possibly more at Merrill Lynch pushed futures lower. Record low consumer confident isn't giving stocks support either. Even the now-confirmed rumor that Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) agreed to buy Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) for about $4 billion in stock may not give stocks the support they need as it already helped boost the mood of investors yesterday.

Thursday, U.S. stocks jumped -- again in the last two hour of trade -- after hearing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech. Bernanke pledged to slash interest rates yet again to prevent housing and credit problems from plunging the country into a recession. Talk of Bank of America maybe buying Countrywide Financial also lifted stocks. The Dow industrials closed up 117-point, or 0.92%, the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.79%, and the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 14 points, or 0.56%.

Not much is on the economic docket today. At 8:30 a.m., trade balance in November and import prices in December will be reported. Two more Fed officials are also scheduled to speak.
However, already the RBC Cash Index, or consumer confidence, was released, showing a fall to an all-time low due to worries about jobs, energy bills and home foreclosures. The index tumbled to a mark of 56.3 in early January, after logging in a reading of 65.9 in December - the worst since the index began in 2002.