US stock index futures slightly lower despite debt ceiling agreement

U.S. stock-index futures retreated after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed near a record levels after Congress agreed to lift the debt limit, while companies keep posting third quarter earnings.

S&P 500 futures expiring in December slid 0.1% to 1,711.0 at 7:44 a.m. in New York despite vote of Congress to halt the 16-day government shutdown and raise the U.S. borrowing limit after the close of yesterday trading session. Dow Jones Industrial Average future contracts lost 42 points, or 0.3%, to 15,207 today. Tech companies show optimism as Nasdaq index rose by less than 0.1%.

“What we’re seeing is a case of buy on the rumor, sell on the news,” said to Bloomberg, Patrick Spencer, London-based head of U.S. equity sales at Robert W. Baird & Co., which oversees about $105 billion. “Markets had a good run in the last week, so there will be a bit of profit taking after the debt deal.”

Investors are focused on the report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington which is due to be released. Investors predict less jobless claims comparing to 374,000 a week earlier.

In the corporate world, UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported a profit of $1.57 billion, or $1.53 a share, up from $1.56 billion, or $1.50 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $30.62 billion. The results are in the expected range although share price of company slipped by 1.1% in pre-trade.

EBay retreated by 4.2% to $51.26 in early New York trading after saying fourth-quarter sales will be $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion amid “dramatically decelerating U.S. e-commerce growth.” Analysts on average were projecting revenue of $4.64 billion.

SanDisk added 2.2% to $64.33 in Germany after posting third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.59 a share, largely exceeding analysts projections. The company reported sales of $1.63 billion, compared with the $1.56 billion projected by analysts.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and 22 other companies on the S&P 500 are scheduled to report results today.