By Sarah Jones
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- European stock-index futures fell, indicating the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index may decline for a seventh straight day, on concern the profit outlook for technology and mining companies is deteriorating.
ASML Holding NV may be active after the region’s largest maker of semiconductor equipment reported its first loss since 2003. Raw-material companies may slide after Rio Tinto Group said earnings at its aluminum and copper units will decline because of falling prices and Posco, Asia’s third-biggest steelmaker, reported earnings that missed analysts’ estimates.
Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, slipped 0.3 percent to 2,294 as of 7:45 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may drop 35, according to BGC Partners.
The Stoxx 600 retreated 9.4 percent over the past six days, wiping out more than half its gains since a rally from a five- year low in November. Companies from Deutsche Bank AG to Intel Corp. fuelled concern the global recession and financial crisis, which has seen banks and insurers rack up $1 trillion in credit losses and writedowns since the start of last year, are snuffing out profit growth.
“Equity markets appear to be truly blighted right now as yesterday’s sell-off looks set to continue as the focus shifts to the latest round of earnings news,” said London-based Matt Buckland, a dealer at CMC Markets.
A plunge in Japanese machinery orders helped send the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 4.2 percent to a five-week low. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 0.8 percent following a slump in U.S. stocks yesterday amid growing concern over the future of Citigroup Inc.
ECB Rates
The European Central Bank is today expected to cut interest rates to counter the economic slowdown, even after President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled a reluctance to move this month, a survey of economists shows.
ECB policy makers meeting in Frankfurt will lower the benchmark lending rate by half a percentage point to 2 percent, according to the median of 60 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. That would match the lowest rate since the ECB took charge of monetary policy in 1999. The bank will reduce the rate to a record low of 1.5 percent in March, another survey shows.
ASML may be active. The semiconductor equipment maker reported a fourth-quarter loss of 88 million euros ($116 million) as sales fell amid an industry slump. Analysts predicted a loss of 107.1 million euros, the median of seven estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.
Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto sank 8.2 percent in Sydney. The world’s third- biggest mining company said fourth-quarter earnings at its aluminum and copper units will decline because of falling prices. The company also reported an 18 percent drop in iron-ore output in the fourth quarter after steelmakers idled furnaces.
South Korean steelmaker Posco said fourth-quarter profit was little changed at 721 billion won ($521 million), as the global recession curbed demand from automakers and builders.
The median profit estimate of 13 analysts compiled by Bloomberg was 1.03 trillion won.
Total SA may decline after Europe’s third-largest oil company said European refining margins fell to $41.4 per ton in the fourth quarter from $45 in the third quarter.
SABMiller Plc might retreat. The world’s second-biggest brewer said third-quarter beer shipments declined as the global economic slowdown dented demand in emerging markets. The quantity of lager sold fell 1 percent, excluding acquisitions, in the three months through December.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.
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