By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Sears warns of sales shortfall; Janet Yellen testimony looms

U.S. stock futures fell, struggling to shake off a global selloff, as investors waited for jobs data for clues ahead of Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen's testimony this week.

Earnings reports from drinks giant Coca-Cola Co. and drugstore operator CVS Health Corp. should give insight into consumer spending.

Futures for the major benchmarks have been swinging between small gains and losses. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were recently down 62 points, or 0.4%, at 15,926, and those for the S&P 500 index were off 7 points, or 0.4%, to 1,844.75. Nasdaq futures sagged 17 points, or 0.4%, to 3,946.

The search for direction matched moves on European stock markets , while the Nikkei Stock Average closed more than 5% lower, as anxiety swept into Asia overnight.

Pressure on oil prices and continuing worries about a slowdown in global economic growth are seen as driving the global stock selloff. U.S. stocks finished sharply lower Monday, but off their worst levels.

On Monday, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-drop-200-points-setting-wall-street-up-for-an-ugly-start-2016-02-08) the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.8% on heavy losses for shares of Facebook Inc. (FB) and Amazon Inc. (AMZN). The S&P 500 fell 1.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average stumbled 178 points, or 1.1%.

Read:Why a few money-making tech stocks won't make up for the big losers (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-few-money-making-tech-stocks-wont-make-up-for-the-big-losers-2016-02-09)

"[I]t's going to be a case of watching Wall Street to see if the gains we saw coming in towards the close last night can be extended," said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a note.

"This really could go either way, but building fears of a global slowdown do seem to have the potential to push back the next round of U.S. rate hikes. Anything that adds weight to this argument can only mean more good news for stocks," he said.

Yellen ahead: The moves come ahead of the marquee event for U.S. markets this week: Fed Chairwoman Yellen's semiannual testimony before House and Senate committees on Wednesday and Thursday.

"The market is starting to price out any more rate hikes from the Fed in 2016, let alone at the March meeting. Anything from Janet Yellen that confirms or denies that thinking will see markets react as the feeling that the Fed acted too early in December continues to grow," said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX, in a note.

Economic data: The U.S. job openings, or JOLTS, report for December is due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Yellen has said she pays close attention to the quit rate, a proxy of worker confidence, included in the report.

Also at 10 a.m. Eastern, the Commerce Department's report on wholesale inventories in December is expected.

Earnings: Ahead of the bell, Coca-Cola Co. (KO) reported fourth-quarter revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/coca-cola-revenue-beats-but-profit-falls-short-2016-02-09) of $10 billion, above expectations of $9.9 billion, but per-share earnings of 28 cents were below Wall Street's forecast of 37 cents. Coke shares were inactive after the results.

Wendy's Co.'s (WEN) preliminary fourth-quarter adjusted profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wendys-profit-revenue-beats-expectations-2016-02-09) of 12 cents a share beat expectations and the company anticipates same-store sales growth above what analysts were projecting. Wendy's shares weren't moving premarket.

Drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp. (CVS) posted fourth-quarter sales and profit that met expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cvs-profit-sales-rise-in-line-with-expectations-2016-02-09). Shares were off 0.7% ahead of the bell.

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) warned its fourth-quarter revenue would fall short (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sears-warns-on-sales-to-speed-up-store-closures-2016-02-09) of expectations, prompting the retailer to accelerate store closures and make deeper cost cuts.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (GT) is projected to report 75 cents a share for fourth-quarter earnings.

After the bell, Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) is forecast to report adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share. Read:Tesla earnings: Model 3 spending, Model X sales in focus (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tesla-earnings-model-3-spending-model-x-sales-in-focus-2016-02-05)

Other markets:Bank shares fell (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-get-clobbered-again-as-banks-slump-2016-02-09) in Europe as the choppy action continued.

Investors seeking safety pushed the yen higher against the U.S. dollar, and a rush to Japanese bonds drove the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond into negative territory for the first time.

Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-rises-as-downbeat-iea-report-fails-to-add-to-pessimism-2016-02-09) were 1% higher, holding to gains after the International Energy Agency warned (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/iea-warns-oil-surplus-will-be-worse-than-expected-2016-02-09) oil prices could fall again as Iranian output increased.

Also read:Oil industry woes grow as storage levels hit 'critical level' (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-industry-woes-grow-as-storage-levels-hit-critical-level-2016-02-08)

Gold prices turned down, trading below $1,190 an ounce.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 07:29 ET (12:29 GMT)

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