Stocks in Europe Drop From Five-Month High as Euro Slips; S&P Futures Fall

By Stephen Kirkland - Jan 20, 2012 4:11 PM GMT+0700

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European stocks dropped from a five- month high and the euro weakened as talks between Greek officials and private creditors entered a third day. U.S. index futures retreated and natural gas fell for a 10th day.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4 percent at 9:05 a.m. in London, and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.3 percent. Natural gas fell 0.3 percent, the longest losing streak since August 2009. The euro depreciated 0.3 percent to $1.2930, while the Dollar Index added 0.3 percent to 80.29.

Markets are reversing after the best start to the year for the S&P 500 and European shares in 15 years. Greek officials and private creditors will meet to seek agreement on a debt swap after “long and substantial” discussions yesterday, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday.

The euro was little changed at 99.87 yen, while the dollar climbed 0.2 percent to 88.24 yen. The Swedish krona weakened 0.6 percent to 6.7889 per dollar, snapping a four-day gain. The dollar advanced versus all but one of 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg.

Natural gas fell as much as 1.7 percent to $2.283 per million British thermal units, the lowest price for a most- active contract since February 2002. Copper dropped 0.6 percent to $8,317 a metric ton and oil in New York declined 0.6 percent to $99.82 a barrel.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at Swallace6@bloomberg.net