US stock index futures retreated before US durable goods data

U.S. stock-index futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will continue to decline for a third consecutive day, as investors focused their attention towards economic reports to help assess when the Federal Reserve will reduce its bond-buying program.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in September lost 0.7% to 1,672.4 at 7:06 a.m. in New York. Future contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 88 points, or 0.6 percent, to 15,412 today.

“Investors are watching economic data, with a special focus on anything on the labor market,” said Martin Schlatter, a fund manager at Swiss Rock Asset Management AG in Zurich, which oversees about $1.1 billion. “Looking forward to the next few quarters, sales figures will have to rise and it’s not clear where those impulses are going to come from. The euro area and China are now dealing with reduced economic activity.”

A Labor Department report at 1:30 p.m. London time, may show that initial jobless claims rose to 340,000 last week from 334,000 the previous week. A Commerce Department release at the same time will show that durable-goods orders increased 1.4% in June, their third consecutive monthly gain, according to the median forecast of 79 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Orders excluding transportation gear will advance 0.5%, matching the increase in May, economists predicted.

In corporate news, Western Digital dropped 4.9% to $64.20 in early New York trading. The maker of hard drives forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.95 to $2.05, less than the average analyst estimate of $2.06.

Facebook shares jumped 17% to $31.14 as revenue rose 53% to $1.81 billion in the latest quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of $1.62 billion. Profit excluding certain items of 19 cents a share also exceeded the 14-cent average projection of analysts.

Visa Inc. advanced 2% to $190.50 as the biggest bank-card network reported a fiscal third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates. Net income for the three months ended June 30 of $1.23 billion, or $1.88 a share, compared with a loss of $1.84 billion for previous year.

TripAdvisor Inc. jumped 12% to $68.30 after posting second-quarter earnings per share of 52 cents.