Wall St set for lower on caution ahead of data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks were set for a lower open on Tuesday following a nearly 8 percent run over the past five sessions as investors cautiously awaited data on consumer confidence and minutes from the latest meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers.

Stock index futures held losses after data showed U.S. single-family home prices dipped in June from May as the market continued to crawl along at depressed levels.

"This won't be a market mover, but if we get a trend that follows through, absolutely that trend will be a market mover," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC in New York.

The Conference Board will releases its August consumer confidence report at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Economists expected a reading of 52.0, compared with 59.5 in July.

The Federal Open Market Committee releases its minutes of its August 9 at 2 p.m. EDT. Investors will look for clues on how the policy-setting panel views the economic outlook.

Amid concerns about the debt crisis in Europe, Italy's return to bond markets met relatively weak demand despite the European Central Bank buying Italian debt in recent weeks.

Signs of lower-than-expected demand at the auction -- seen as a crucial test of emergency steps taken to stem the spread of the crisis -- pushed Italian bond yields higher and sparked a rally in safe-haven German debt.

"We're giving back a little from yesterday. Spreads widened in Italy, so there hasn't been any concrete resolution to what's going on in Europe even though there are signs that some things are moving in the right direction," Shea said.

S&P 500 futures fell 7.2 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 56 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 9.75 points.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)