US Stock Futures Slip As Euro Zone Worries Weigh
06/13/2012| 08:24am US/Eastern
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--Stock futures slip on worries about euro-zone's debt crisis, economy
--Europe markets turn down on weak data, elevated Spanish bond yields
--Retail sales expected to decline; wholesale inflation seen falling
By Tomi Kilgore
NEW YORK--U.S. stock futures declined, pulling back from sharp gains in the previous session, as escalating worries about Europe's debt crisis and slowing economy sapped investor sentiment ahead of retail sales and inflation data.
About 90 minutes ahead of the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 20 points, or 0.2%, to 12494. The Dow ran up 163 points, or 1.3%, on Tuesday to close at the highest level since May 29.
Standard & Poor's 500-stock index futures lost 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1317 and Nasdaq 100 futures gave up 6 points, or 0.2%, to 2539. Changes in stock futures do not always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell.
Data on retail sales in May are due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires is for a drop of 0.3% overall, or a decline of just 0.1% when excluding auto sales. The producer price index, also due out at 8:30, is expected to decline 0.8%, or increase 0.2% when excluding the food and energy components.
Business inventories for April, due out at 10 a.m., anticipated to rose 0.3%.
European markets erased early gains to turn mostly lower as worries about Spain's debt and banking crisis increased and on weak economic data. The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.5%, after being up 0.4% at its intraday high.
Yields on 10-year Spanish government bonds hovered near euro-era highs as investors started pricing in the possibility that Spain would need a bailout of its own.
Meanwhile, euro-zone industrial output fell 0.8% in April, leaving the overall level of output at the weakest level since September 2010.
Asian markets were mostly higher on the back of U.S. gains, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.6% and China's Shanghai Composite climbing 1.3%.
Crude-oil futures slipped 0.3% to $83.03 a barrel, while gold futures eased 0.2% to $1608.80 an ounce. The U.S. dollar lost ground against the euro but edged higher against the yen.
In corporate news, shares of Dell rose 3.5% in premarket trading after the computer maker said it plans to start paying a quarterly cash dividend of 8 cents a share beginning with the fiscal third quarter, which ends in October.
Johnson & Johnson gained 2.1% after the blue-chip health-care company said it received regulatory clearance to close its $19.7 billion bid for medical-device maker Synthes. To help fund the deal, J&J said its wholly owned Irish subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceutical, entered into an accelerated share-repurchase agreement to buy 203.7 million shares of J&J common stock for $12.9 billion.
Facebook edged up 0.4%, putting it on track to post back-to-back gains for just the second time since going public. The stock rose 1.5% on Tuesday to close a 1 1/2-week high.
Scotts Miracle-Gro said it expects to fall short of the previously provided full-year earnings and sales-growth estimates as a result of slowing consumer demand and lower-than-expected margin rates. The lawn and garden-care company's stock was still inactive in the premarket.
3D Systems shed 5.4% after the company said it is offering shares of its common stock for sale to the public.
-Write to Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@dowjones.com
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