Its Dividend Day (DIVY)

[shortsinthesand]

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

Wall Street is stuck with the same old decision: Should it worry about inflation or be happy for any signs that the economy is looking up?

Stock futures are pointing sideways ahead of the release of the consumer price index.

U.S. Treasuries are lower, and the dollar is broadly higher. Both are telling the same story as yesterday, when robust retail data gave more credence to the view that the Fed may be finished with cutting interest rates for now.

More appearances by Fed officials are on tap, but the flood of eight yesterday has slowed to a relative trickle of three today. It'll be interesting to hear what everyone has to say, given the focus on inflation and chief Ben Bernanke's pronouncement yesterday that financial markets are still troubled.

Oil prices have fallen from yesterday's record of $127 a barrel after Iran said it had no plans to cut exports.

Mortgage financier Freddie Mac reported a bigger quarterly loss that apparently wasn't as bad as Wall Street was expecting, and its stock is up.

But Deere shares have lost traction after the farm equipment maker harvested quarterly earnings in line with expectations, but said the cost of raw materials and possible component shortages will affect future results.

Until tomorrow,

Lisa Von Ahn
News Mail Editor