Stocks firm ahead of Bernanke testimony Tuesday 08.00 BST. Investors are displaying a greater appetite for so-called riskier assets as hope builds that policymakers will deliver more support to the struggling global economy. The FTSE All-World equity index is up 0.3 per cent after the Asia-Pacific region added 0.5 per cent and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 opens with a gain of 0.2 per cent. The market is following traditional strategic lines as a mildly more bullish mood prevails. S&P 500 futures point to Wall Street gaining 0.4 per cent when the starting bell rings, while the euro is up 0.1 per cent to $1.2285 and metals are led higher by copper, up 0.2 per cent to $3.49 a pound. Gold is adding $3 to $1,593 an ounce. Conversely, the dollar index is down 0.1 per cent and fixed income "havens" are in retreat, pushing yields on 10-year benchmark Treasuries up 1 basis point to 1.48 per cent. It should be noted, though, that those US yields are barely 4bp above record lows, while a yield of 1.25 per cent for equivalent German paper is only a dozen or so basis points above its all-time trough, too. This speaks of the underlying wariness afflicting a significant proportion of investors as they contemplate the economic backdrop. After already enduring a month or so of mostly disappointing macroeconomic data, traders had to contend with more of the same on Monday with news that US retail sales had contracted for the third month in a row in June and that the International Monetary Fund had trimmed its global growth forecast. Yet on Tuesday it seems such factors have served to convince many dealers that the sour economic background only makes the chances of further assistance from the central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, more likely. Or it could simply be the case, of course, that after assessing the prospects for global growth and corporate earnings, a sufficient weight of investors perceive value in the market. Either way, both issues will be addressed during the session. First with a burst of US company reporting that includes Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs, followed after the Wall Street close by Intel. Then Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is due to face Congress in his two-day, twice-yearly testimony on the economy. Although Mr Bernanke has made it clear - in the eyes of many analysts - that any additional monetary boost will depend on whether economic conditions warrant it, traders will try to gauge if he believes such criteria have now been met, particularly given a fourth consecutive month of weak US jobs data. Back in Europe, meanwhile, it feels like the debilitating sovereign debt crisis has been pushed to the back of the stage for the time being. Overnight, Moody's, the rating agency, said it had downgraded 10 Italian banks and three financial institutions by one or two notches late on Monday. The downgrades came just three days after it had lowered its rating on Italy's sovereign debt by two notches to Baa2, or just two notches above junk status. But Italian 10-year sovereign yields are down 4 basis points to 6.07 per cent - still unsustainably high, though a sanguine reaction under the circumstances. Likewise, the other country in the spotlight is Spain and its 10-years are down 2bp to 6.8 per cent.