ADP Jobs, Beige Book

Equity futures are looking down ahead of key labor data for the month and the Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of the economy. Two hours before the opening bell, investors are hesitant to push stocks higher after the 1.21% gain in the S&P 500 yesterday.

Futures on the Dow are currently down 2 points to 10,449 while the benchmark S&P 500 looks to open 1.25 points lower at 1,107.

The US dollar is slightly higher but that hasn’t stopped gold prices from hitting fresh all-time highs. Gold is currently up $13 to 1,209.60 per ounce, in contrast to falling oil prices which are down 60 cents this morning to $77.77 per barrel.

BMO’s Robert Kavcic writes this morning: “Gold continues to push into record territory, up another $13 to $1,210 amid continued worries about a depreciating U.S. dollar—note that the dollar index is actually flat this morning—and expectations of more central bank buying.”

Yesterday markets heard from Philly Fed President Charles Plosser, who called the greenback’s decline normal given the “flight to safety” seen earlier in the credit crisis.

“What's happened to the dollar over the last nine months is in part a reversal of what it did the previous nine months,” he said in Rochester, NY. 

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s reappointment hearing for Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, Bloomberg reports that “a majority of Senate Democrats and Republicans . . .plan to green light his reappointment.”

The FT adds: “While there is little doubt he will be confirmed, congressional officials say the hearings will highlight concerns about the Fed, manifested in legislative proposals that would reduce its powers or its independence. Experts fear the US central bank could end up paying a heavy institutional price for its unorthodox actions to avert a depression.”

Key Events Today:

8:15 â€