Global economic worries send stocks lower; focus turns to U.S. data

U.S. stock-index futures declined, indicating equities will fall for a second day, as worse-than-forecast manufacturing data in the euro area and China added to signs of a deepening global-economic slowdown. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) expiring in December dropped 0.4% to 2,039 at 10:54 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts fell 65 points, or 0.4%, to 17,592. Stocks fell from records Wednesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve showed some policy makers were concerned inflation isn't rising fast enough. “PMI weakness in the euro area and China are raising concerns about global growth,” said Patrick Spencer, head of U.S. equity sales at Robert W. Baird & Co. in London. “We have manufacturing PMI today in the U.S. Given the global growth scares people are worried about that number.” A purchasing managers' index for factories and services activity in the euro area unexpectedly dropped in November, to the lowest level in 16 months, London-based Markit Economics said Thursday. In China, a factory gauge fell to a six-month low this month. A report at 9:45 a.m. in Washington may show a measure of U.S. factory output increased in November, according to economist forecasts. Data at 8:30 a.m. may show initial jobless claims fell in the week ended Nov. 15 from the previous period. The pace of existing-home sales probably slowed in October, economists predicted before a report due at 10 a.m. An index of leading indicators probably rose for a second month, economists forecast. EARNINGS REPORTS Dollar Tree Inc., Best Buy Co. and Gap Inc. are among companies posting results today. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported this earnings season, 79% beat profit estimates and 60% surpassed revenue projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) slid 4.8% to $58.10 in premarket New York trading. The company estimated fiscal fourth-quarter sales and profit, and 2016 revenue, that may miss analysts' projections amid a slowdown in corporate spending on the company's software and services. Keurig Green Mountain fell 0.9% to $152.55 in German trading after forecasting first-quarter earnings per diluted share of no higher than 88 cents amid pressure on gross margins. That compares with analyst estimates of 96 cents. GoPro Inc. (GPRO) slid 6.2% to $74.20 in premarket New York trading. The sports-camera maker priced a secondary share offering at about 11% lower than the previous day's close. Google Inc fell 2.5% to $533.61 in German trading after it was replaced by Yahoo (YHOO)! Inc. as the default search engine on Firefox browsers in the U.S. Yahoo climbed 0.9% to $51.05 in New York. Under the agreement, Google, Microsoft Corp.'s Bing and other search services will be available as alternative search engines for Firefox, No. 3-ranked Mozilla said in a blog post.