U.S. stock-index futures drifted between gains and losses before reports on consumer spending, durable-goods orders and jobless claims that economists expect will show further deterioration in the world’s largest economy. Micron Technology Inc. may decline after the largest U.S. producer of memory chips posted a wider first-quarter loss than analysts anticipated. Owens-Illinois Inc. may advance after the world’s biggest maker of glass containers was picked to join the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. S&P 500 futures expiring in March added less than 0.1 percent to 858.90 at 7:25 a.m. in New York after earlier falling as much as 0.2 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose less than 0.1 percent to 8,391 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 0.1 percent to 1,185.75. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange will end today at 1 p.m., while exchanges in European countries including Germany and Italy were closed for the Christmas holiday. Stocks in Europe and Asia retreated, sending the MSCI World Index to its fifth straight decline, on concern that deepening recessions in the U.S., U.K. and Japan will snuff out earnings growth. The MSCI World Index lost 0.2 percent to 886.23. The U.S. stock market historically performs better during the Christmas week, according to Bespoke Investment Group LLC. The Dow average has risen an average 0.7 percent during the holiday season, compared with a 0.1 percent advance for all 4-day periods, data since 1900 from the Harrison, New York-based research firm show. Biggest Annual Slump The S&P 500 is headed for its biggest annual slump since 1931, having dropped 41 percent in 2008, as the collapse of credit markets sent the world’s largest economy into a recession and spurred $1 trillion in losses at financial firms. Indexes fell yesterday as concern grew that emergency loans won’t save the auto industry, while home prices plunged and the government confirmed the economy shrank the most since 2001 last quarter. “It is difficult to envisage a stronger economy until confidence is restored,” said Andrew Shard, a fund manager at Invesco Perpetual in Henley-on-Thames, England. “Unfortunately I do not think this is likely to happen for some time. A severe recession has been largely discounted in valuations.” Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product, fell in November for a record fifth consecutive month as unemployment climbed, economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Eighty-one percent of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season, according to a study by NPD Group Inc. released on Dec. 19. Falling Prices The Commerce Department’s spending figures are due at 8:30 a.m. At the same time, Commerce may report that orders for durable goods, those meant to last several years, fell 3 percent in November, according to a survey. A report from the Labor Department may show that for a seventh week in a row more than 500,000 Americans filed initial claims for jobless benefits, the longest stretch in 26 years. Micron dropped 5.9 percent to $2.22 in after-hours trading. The chipmaker failed to meet analysts’ forecasts after falling prices forced the company to write down the value of its inventory. Owens-Illinois rose 6.3 percent to $23.65 in after-hours trading. The world’s largest maker of glass containers will replace Wachovia Corp. in the S&P 500 after trading ends on Dec. 31, S&P said in a statement. Scana Corp., South Carolina’s largest utility owner, will join the index in the place of Merrill Lynch & Co. while FLIR Systems Inc. will take the place of National City Corp.

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