By Adam Haigh
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- European stock-index futures were little changed after the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index closed at a six-year low. U.S. futures gained, while most stocks in Asia fell as concern the recession is deepening offset speculation Japan will introduce more stimulus measures.
UBS AG may advance after Citigroup Inc. recommended shares of Switzerland’s biggest bank. Kuehne & Nagel International AG, the world’s largest sea-freight forwarder, may be active after reporting a 7.3 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit.
Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, were unchanged at 1,880 at 7:19 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is set to open 16 points higher, according to inter-dealer broker BGC Partners.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both closed at the lowest levels since 2003 yesterday as HSBC Holdings Plc and American International Group Inc. spurred concern that financial firms will need more capital.
“After yesterday’s massive sell-off the day does look likely to begin with a modest rebound,” said Matt Buckland, a trader at spread-betting firm CMC Markets in London. “Whether this will prove to be sustainable remains to be seen.”
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1 percent after the benchmark index for U.S. equities closed at the lowest level since October 1996 yesterday.
‘Excessive Declines’
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.2 percent today, trimming an earlier drop of as much as 1.7 percent as Japan’s Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said the government can’t ignore “excessive declines” in the nation’s stock market. Yosano said on Feb. 26 that he ordered a study into ways to bolster equities.
The deepening recession, a third government rescue for Citigroup and dividend cuts at companies from General Electric Co. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have sent the MSCI World Index of 23 developed countries to a 22 percent drop this year, the worst start since the gauge was created in 1970.
UBS may rise after Citigroup boosted its recommendation on the shares to “buy” from “hold.” The New York-based bank cited the appointment of Oswald Gruebel as chief executive officer as “an important positive for UBS AG shares.”
Kuehne & Nagel may be active after saying fourth-quarter profit rose 7.3 percent to 133 million Swiss francs ($114 million).
Bayer AG may be active. Germany’s largest drugmaker reported fourth-quarter net income of 106 million euros ($134 million), missing the 190 million-euro estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, scrapped a goal for earnings of 18 euros a share in 2010 and said fourth-quarter profit fell 76 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
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