Before the Opening Bell

S&P futures vs Fair Value: -1.49 at 937.7. Stocks are off to a slow start today. Great Britain's FTSE 100 lost 1.18% where Germany ( XETRA-DAX) and France (CAC 40) lost 0.33% and 0.62% respectively.

Redbook today announced that the April retail sales were soft for the month. In May it was at a year-on-year pace of 0.9%. In April it improved slightly, at 0.1%.

Meanwhile, ICSC Goldman same store sales declined after advancing for three consecutive weeks. It fell by 0.4%. Since consumer spending accounts for more than three quarters of our economy, investors follow these numbers closely.

S&P futures vs fair value: -3.30. Investors reacted to these numbers pushed S&P 500 down to a shy start.

By the way, according to CNBC today that the reason why Citigroup (C) is being removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average has something to do with the government stake in the company.