U.S. Stock-Index Futures Fall; Krispy Kreme, Yum Retreat

U.S. stock-index futures declined, indicating that the Standard & Poor's 500 Index will fall for a third day, before economic reports this week that may give clues as to when the Federal Reserve will reduce stimulus.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (KKD) plunged 14 percent in early U.S. trading after quarterly revenue missed estimates. Yum (YUM)! Brands Inc., the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, fell 2.8 percent in Germany after releasing a financial update that showed volatile Chinese sales. Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 0.9 percent in New York after UBS AG advised buying the shares.

S&P 500 futures expiring in December declined 0.3 percent to 1,794.20 at 7:48 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts fell 67 points, or 0.4 percent, to 15,931.

"For the coming months, markets will be hesitating, and we expect volatility amid expectations of Fed tapering," Guillaume Duchesne, an equity strategist at BGL BNP Paribas SA in Luxembourg, said by telephone. "The rebound in equity markets has been quite impressive, particularly in the U.S., so we expect some pause."

U.S. stocks fell yesterday, with the S&P 500 extending its losses in the final hour of trading, amid data that showed manufacturing unexpectedly climbed last month and reports on holiday retail sales. The S&P 500 has climbed 26 percent this year, and the Dow has gained 22 percent, after the Fed refrained from reducing its third round of economic stimulus.

Economic Data

The Commerce Department will report tomorrow on new home sales, while on Friday the Labor Department will release the November non-farm payrolls figure. Minutes of the last Fed meeting released on Nov. 20 showed that officials are considering scaling back their $85 billion in monthly bond purchases "in coming months" if the economy improves as anticipated.

Krispy Kreme lost 14 percent to $21.05 in early New York trading. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $114.2 million after yesterday's market close, missing the average analyst estimate of $115 million.

Yum declined 2.8 percent to $75.54 in Germany, even after the company posted a surprise gain in same-store sales in China last month as promotions lured diners to its fried-chicken chain. KFC same-store sales in China rose 16 percent in the first 10 days of the month, driven by a "Half Priced" bucket promotion, while they were down 8 percent in the last 20 days of November as the offer ended.

'Volatile Pattern'

"The volatile sales pattern leaves open questions about the trajectory of the widely expected China sales rebound as well as questions about margin recovery," analysts at Bank of America Corp. wrote in a report following the release.

Apple, the maker of the iPhone, rose 0.9 percent to $556.23 in pre-market trading. UBS raised its recommendation to buy from neutral, or hold, and increased its price estimate for the shares to $650 from $540. Analysts Steven Milunovich and Peter Christiansen wrote in a report that the company stands to benefit from social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies.

Tesla Motors Inc. climbed 2.9 percent to $127.77. The carmaker's Model S, the electric car being investigated for a possible U.S. recall, was cleared of any safety defect in a review by Germany's transportation regulator, the company said.

Online retailers may be active. Cyber Monday sales surged, sending online shopping toward a single-day record as Amazon.com Inc. and EBay Inc. lured consumers from brick-and-mortar stores.

Online sales rose 19 percent from 2012 as of 9 p.m. in New York yesterday, International Business Machines Corp. said in an e-mailed statement. Retailers catering to smartphone and tablet users benefited the most, with mobile traffic accounting for 30 percent of the total site visits, an increase of more than 58 percent from last year, IBM said.

Amazon (AMZN) and EBay were little changed in European trading today.