Wall Street headed for a lower opening Tuesday, with investors hesitant ahead of a key consumer report and news that Hewlett-Packard will buy Electronic Data Systems in a deal valued at $12.6 billion.
The Commerce Department is scheduled to release its April retail sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR estimated, on average, that sales dipped by 0.1 percent last month after growing by 0.2 percent in March.
Retail sales are the clearest indicator of the impact that rising food and energy prices are having on the economy. With consumer spending accounting for more than two-thirds of the nation's economy, and Wall Street wants to know how much Americans spend at stores, restaurants and car dealerships.
The Hewlett-Packard deal, worth $25 per share, sets up head-to-head competition with IBM as it doubles its services revenue.
Meanwhile, investors got another read on the consumer after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported first-quarter profit above Wall Street forecasts. However, the world's largest retailer, often a barometer of consumer spending in the U.S., forecast that the current quarter will come in below expectations.
Investors will also be monitoring a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He is slated to speak on liquidity measures at the Atlanta Fed's Financial Markets Conference, though he is said to have prepared text and will take no questions.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 39, or 0.33 percent, to 12,825.
Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.00, or 0.36 percent, to 1,399.60, and Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 3.50, or 0.18 percent, to 1,995.00.
Wall Street rallied Monday as oil prices fell back and alleviated some of investors' concerns about accelerating inflation.
On Tuesday, light, sweet crude edged up 17 cents to $124.40 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Monday's trading high of $126.40 a barrel was the sixth record in six trading sessions.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.76 percent from 3.80 percent late Monday.
In corporate news, Electronic Data Systems Corp. shares are expected to spike after Hewlett Packard Co. confirmed it is in talks about a possible acquisition.
Meanwhile, Staples Inc. raised its hostile bid to acquire Dutch rival Corporate Express NL. The new bid values Corporate Express at $2.27 billion.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.53 percent. In morning trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1.02 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.27 percent, and France's CAC-40 shed 0.38 percent.
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