US stock index futures retreat as investors focus on ISM data

U.S. stock-index futures sank, predicting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will end two days of gains, as investors awaited a report on the services industry.

Standard & Poors 500 futures expiring in December fell 0.3% to 1,757.8 at 11:33 a.m. in London. The benchmark index rose 0.4% on Monday as Exxon Mobil Corp. and U.S. Steel Corp. led a rally in commodity stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts declined 53 points, or 0.3%, to 15,522 today. Nasdaq futures also retreated 0.3% to 3,368.25.

Investors follow closely economic data to asses the condition of the U.S. economy after the central bank last week said it needs to see more evidence of sustained improvement before slowing the pace of its $85 billion monthly bond purchases. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard defined as “certainly possible” that the Fed would reduce bond purchases after its next meeting ending December 18 if the labor market continues to show improvement and inflation ticks up.

A report at 10 a.m. EDT could possibly show the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index fell to 54 last month from 54.4 in September, according to analysts. Reports on GDP later this week may show the U.S. economy slowed in the third quarter and employers hired fewer workers in October.

In corporate news, AOL is forecast to report third-quarter earnings of 49 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet.

Tesla may report third-quarter earnings of 8 cents a share. Analysts at Wedbush last week confirmed the stock’s outperform rating and price target of $240.

CVS Caremark is likely to post earnings of $1.02 a share in the third quarter.

IntercontinentalExchange is expected to post third-quarter earnings of $1.83 a share.

T-Mobile US Inc. may post third-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share. The carrier is estimated to have added net 450,000 postpaid subscribers in the quarter, the second quarter in a row of growth, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank.

LeapFrog sank 10% to $7.80 in early New York trading after the maker of tablet devices for children forecast 2013 earnings of 36 cents to 46 cents a share. That was lower compared to its previous prediction of 57 cents to 60 cents.