U.S. Stock Futures Retreat Before Goldman

By Adria Cimino - Oct 18, 2011 6:12 PM GMT+0700

U.S. stock futures declined, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its biggest drop in two weeks, as investors awaited earnings reports from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), the biggest computer-services company, sank 4.1 percent in early New York trading after reporting sales that missed analyst estimates.

Contracts on the S&P 500 that expire in December slid 0.2 percent to 1,191 at 7:11 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 41, or 0.4 percent, to 11,260.

“Until we get good news from emerging markets and companies, the market won’t gain,” said Clemence Bounaix, who helps oversee about $3.4 billion at KBL Richelieu Gestion in Paris. “Earnings reports will be important.”

The S&P 500 last week posted its biggest weekly gain since 2009 amid optimism over corporate earnings and steps by European leaders to support the region’s banks. The benchmark measure surged 11 percent from Oct. 3, its lowest close in more than a year, through Oct. 14. The rebound brought the gauge close to the top of a price range between 1,074.77 and 1,230.71, where it has traded for more than two months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net