Futures slide on Wal-Mart, Cisco woes

By Ellis Mnyandu

Shares of Wal-Mart, a Dow component, dropped 3 percent to $47.39 before the bell. The world's largest retailer posted January sales from stores open at least a year below Wall Street's estimates.

"There's fear in the market," said Peter Cardillo, market economist at Avalon Partners in New York. "The economy is slowing and that raises questions about capital expenditures and earnings going forward."

S&P 500 futures dropped 13.5 points and were below fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Economic indicators set for release include weekly initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EST and December pending home sales at 10 a.m. EST.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)