U.S. stock-index futures advanced, suggesting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will trim its biggest annual decline since the Great Depression. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. may rise as gold headed for an eighth straight annual increase and copper gained in London. A Labor Department report today will probably show U.S. initial jobless claims remained above 500,000 for the eighth week in a row, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. The S&P 500 has slumped 39 percent in 2008, the worst performance since 1931, as more than $1 trillion in credit- related losses at financial companies dragged the U.S., Europe and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II. At its lowest closing level of 2008 on Nov. 20, the S&P 500 was down almost 49 percent for the year and almost 52 percent from its Oct. 9, 2007, record of 1,565.15. S&P 500 futures rose 3.5, or 0.4 percent, to 891.7 at 11:50 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 0.2 percent to 8,658 and Nasdaq-100 index futures climbed 0.1 percent to 1,207.5. The S&P 500 has risen 18 percent since its 11-year low on Nov. 20 as the government rescued New York-based Citigroup Inc., President-elect Barack Obama pledged to stimulate growth with the biggest infrastructure investment since the 1950s, and the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to as low as zero percent to combat the worst financial crisis in seven decades. U.S. stocks climbed the most in two weeks yesterday after the government widened its efforts to keep General Motors Corp. out of bankruptcy by shoring up its finance arm. Copper, Gold Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s second-largest copper producer, may gain as the metal rose as much as 2.4 percent to $2,986 a metric ton in London. Gold may continue to rise in 2009 on speculation geopolitical tensions and a weaker dollar will boost demand for the precious metal as a haven. “All roads point to gold continuing its ascent in 2009,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney, said in an e-mail note today. The Labor Department is due to release figures on the number of Americans filing for initial jobless claims and continuing claims at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Initial claims fell to 575,000 in the week ended Dec. 28 from 586,000 the week before, according to the Bloomberg survey. The prior figure was the most since November 1982. Cheapest Since 1998 This year’s slump has left S&P 500 companies valued at an average of 12.6 times operating profit, the cheapest since at least 1998, monthly data compiled by Bloomberg show. Earnings of companies in the S&P 500 have decreased from the year-earlier period in each of the past five quarters, matching the longest streaks of declines on record, and the slump is forecast to continue. According to estimates compiled by Bloomberg, earnings from continuing operations will fall 12 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, 10 percent in the first quarter, and 5.8 percent in the second quarter. Financial companies led declines among all 10 of the main industries represented in the S&P 500 this year, falling 58 percent as a group as banks suffered asset writedowns and credit losses stemming from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in 2007. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., once the fourth-biggest securities firm on Wall Street, filed a record U.S. bankruptcy in September after its shares lost almost all their value. Rivals Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos. were forced into emergency takeovers to avoid collapse, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley converted to bank holding companies as investors lost confidence in firms that depend on debt-market financing. Morgan Stanley shares slid more than 71 percent in 2008, while Goldman Sachs lost 62 percent. AIG, GM Tumble Insurers crippled by losses on investments and contracts guaranteeing debt from default were also among the biggest losers. Shares of American International Group Inc., once the world’s largest insurer before it was placed under government conservatorship, lost more than 97 percent in the year. Automakers slumped as the slowing economy and lack of credit pushed General Motors Corp. to the brink of bankruptcy. The largest U.S. automaker’s shares sank 85 percent. While the global economic slowdown weighed on stocks in 2008, U.S. government bonds were on course for their best year since 1995 amid speculation the American recession will extend into the first half of 2009. The dollar was set to complete its biggest annual decline against the yen in more than two decades, while the euro was poised for the best year against the British pound since its 1999 debut.

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