U.S. Stock Futures, Most European Shares Fall Before Jobs Data

By Adria Cimino

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures and most European shares declined before a report that may show the world’s biggest economy lost jobs for a 12th straight month. A slump in automakers sent the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lower.

Nestle SA fell 2 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. recommended selling shares of the world’s largest food company. Nissan Motor Co. retreated 5 percent after laying off workers in the U.K. following a “dramatic” slump in demand.

The MSCI World Index has slid 1 percent this week as signs that profits are deteriorating overshadowed efforts by governments to revive global growth with stimulus packages and interest-rate cuts. The U.S. probably lost 525,000 jobs in December, capping the biggest collapse in employment since the end of World War II, economists said before a report today.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures retreated 0.4 percent at 8:34 a.m. in London, indicating the benchmark index for U.S. equities will extend this week’s 2.4 percent slide. Three shares fell for every two that rose in Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index, which added less than 0.1 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.7 percent.

The MSCI World Index has slumped 41 percent since the start of last year as $1 trillion in losses at financial companies eroded profits and the U.S., Europe and Japan fell into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II.

The projected decline in U.S. jobs, based on the median estimate of 73 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, would bring last year’s payroll drop to 2.4 million, the most since 1945. The unemployment rate likely jumped to a 15-year high of 7 percent. The report is set for release at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

Nestle, Nissan

Nestle lost 2 percent to 41.24 Swiss francs. The company was cut to “underweight” from “neutral” by JPMorgan analyst Pablo Zuanic, who said he expects the maker of Nespresso coffee to miss its 2009 sales target.

Heineken NV fell 1.3 percent to 23.90 euros. The largest Dutch brewer had its shares cut to “neutral” from “outperform” at Credit Suisse Group.

Nissan, Japan’s third-biggest automaker, declined 5 percent to 343 yen after saying it will eliminate about 1,200 workers at a U.K. factory. The car market is “extremely challenging” this year, the Japanese automaker said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.