Futures climb, tracking advance in Asia and Europe. Fed to begin two-day meeting on rates.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised to join a global stock buying surge Tuesday, bouncing back from several days of steep losses, ahead of the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on interest rates.

At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were sharply higher.

Futures measure current index values against perceived performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins in New York.

Bargain hunters helped overseas markets advance Tuesday. Shares in Hong Kong surged 14%, recovering the previous session's losses. Japan's Nikkei advanced 6.4%. European stocks were mostly higher in morning trading.

Fed meeting: The Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting Tuesday. Investors are widely expecting the central bank to cut its key short-term interest rate to 1% from the current 1.5% in response to the global economic crisis.

Companies: BP (BP), the second-largest oil company in Europe, reported an 83% surge in net profit for the third quarter, to $8.05 billion from $4.4 billion.

Economy: On tap Tuesday is a report on October consumer confidence. The reading from the Conference Board, a private business research group, is due at 10 a.m. ET. According to a consensus of analysts from Briefing.com, the index is expected to fall to 52 from the prior month's 59.8.

Dollar and the oil: In currency markets, the dollar climbed against the yen, the euro and the British pound. Oil, which has plunged since reaching a record of $147.27 on July 11, edged up 60 cents a barrel to $63.82.

__________________
All my posts are purely my opinion. Please use your own buy and sell signals and never invest in a stock you can not afford to lose money on. For a complete disclaimer click here