Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, reported disappointing sales.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December lost 2.5 to 1183.40 as of 8:09 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 18 to 10,544 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures declined 3.5 to 1556.50.

Earnings last quarter for companies in the S&P 500 Index rose about 17 percent based on the share-weighted average of the 462 companies that released results by Nov. 12. The amount is the smallest increase since the second quarter of 2003.

``You have decelerating earnings,'' Christopher Wiles, who helps oversee $4.5 billion at National City Investment Management in Pittsburgh, said yesterday. ``You have an economy that is definitely going to be struggling.''

Shares of Wal-Mart dropped 36 cents to $57.34 on the Inet ATS trading system. The company missed its forecast for a same- store sales gain of 3 percent to 5 percent in the third quarter. Revenue in the third quarter was $68.5 billion, lower than the average estimate of $69.2 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Net income rose 13 percent to $2.29 billion, or 54 cents a share, in the period ended Oct. 31, helped by a tax credit.

Wal-Mart and Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's second-largest personal-computer maker, are among eight S&P 500 companies scheduled to report earnings today. Hewlett-Packard's shares fell 13 cents to $19.29 in Germany.

The company may say fourth-quarter profit excluding some gains and losses rose 2.8 percent to 37 cents a share, based on Thomson estimates. Sales probably rose 7 percent, the smallest gain in more than a year.

Producer Prices

U.S. producer prices probably increased 0.6 percent in October, reflecting surging energy costs, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Bloomberg. That would be the biggest rise in five months. Excluding food and fuel costs, prices likely rose 0.1 percent. The Labor Department issues the report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

Home Depot Inc. climbed 91 cents to $44.70 in Inet trading. The largest home-improvement chain said third-quarter net income rose to 60 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected on average 57 cents a share.

Staples, Google

Staples Inc. climbed 31 cents to $31.50 on Inet after the world's biggest office-supplies retailer said third-quarter earnings climbed 26 percent to $208.9 million, or 41 cents a share.

Google Inc. fell 87 cents to $184 on Inet. Employees and other insiders at the owner of the world's most-used Internet search engine will be allowed to sell 39.1 million shares today, potentially doubling the amount of stock on the market and putting pressure on the price.

Fannie Mae

Shares of Fannie Mae, the biggest source of U.S. mortgage money, dropped $2 to $68.20 in Inet trading. The company's third- quarter profit before gains or losses in financial contracts was $1.86 a share. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was $1.89 a share. The company also missed a Securities and Exchange Commission deadline for filing financial statements.

Charter Communications

Charter Communications Inc. dropped 36 cents to $2.35 in Inet trading. The cable-television operator controlled by billionaire Paul Allen said it plans to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as many as 150 million Class A shares of its common stock to be sold in a public offering. The company also plans to sell $750 million in convertible notes.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost 51 cents to $38.65 in Inet trading. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets was downgraded to ``market perform'' from ``outperform'' by Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Andrew Collins.

In Asia, Morgan Stanley Capital International's Asia-Pacific Index, which tracks more than 900 companies, lost 0.2 percent as of 8:53 p.m. in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.6 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margo Towie in Brussels at mtowie@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 16, 2004 08:15 EST