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 Wall Street is also awaiting the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for September, which economists predict held steady at 104.5. The index will be released at 10 a.m. EDT.
Both reports could give traders a better idea about whether the Federal Reserve is likely to continue cutting rates. Wall Street surged last week after policymakers lowered rates by a half-point.
Dow futures expiring in December fell 43, or 0.38 percent, to 13,819. S&P 500 index futures fell 7.10, or 0.46 percent, to 1,524.60, and Nasdaq 100 Index futures fell 7.75, or 0.37 percent, to 2,072.00.
In corporate news, homebuilder Lennar Corp. is expected to open lower after it posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday because of the deteriorating housing market. The company missed Wall Street projections after taking a $3.33 per share charge related to write-offs.
Also, two of the nation's leading retailers -- discounter Target Corp. and home improvement merchant Lowe's Cos.
-- both cut their sales forecasts for the year because of uncertainty about the upcoming holiday shopping season. The warnings came after the closing bell on Monday, and could send shares lower.
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 General Motors Corp. might also come under pressure amid concerns that the strike by the United Auto Workers could last more than a week or two and could cost the car maker billions of dollars. It would also stop the momentum the company was building with some of its new models.
Oil prices fell, with a barrel of light sweet crude down 71 cents to $80.24 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.01 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.73 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.06 percent.
In Asia earlier, Japan's Nikkei index rose 0.55 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.46 percent.
[Associated Press; by Joe Bel
Bruno]
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