European stock-index futures fell, indicating the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index may retest November’s five-year low, as concern mounted the global economic slump will lead to a deterioration in earnings. ING Groep NV will probably drop after the biggest Dutch financial-services company posted its second straight quarterly loss and said Chief Executive Officer Michel Tilmant will step down. BNP Paribas SA may slip as France’s largest bank reported a loss of about 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the fourth quarter. Xstrata will probably retreat after Citigroup Inc. advised clients to sell the shares. “The outlook for markets, because of the earnings we are getting, doesn’t look very good,” said David Buik, a London- based markets analyst at inter-dealer broker BGC Partners. Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, lost 18, or 0.8 percent, to 2,130 at 7:43 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is set to fall 28 points, according to CMC Markets in London. The Stoxx 600 slid to the lowest level in two months last week after companies from Microsoft Corp. to Nokia Oyj reported earnings that disappointed investors. The measure closed Jan. 23 at 182.49, near a five-year low of 182.13 on Nov. 21. ING may drop after saying it said it will cut 7,000 jobs as it seeks to reduce operating expenses by 1 billion euros in 2009. BNP will probably fall as it wrote down 400 million euros in investments. The French bank will receive 2.55 billion euros in a second round of capital from the state. Xstrata Downgrade Xstrata, Europe’s largest zinc producer, may drop as Citigroup downgraded the shares to “sell” from “hold” to reflect the economic slowdown and lower commodity prices. Wolseley Plc will probably retreat after saying pretax profit fell 66 percent in the first five months of its financial year and that it will evaluate all options to position its balance sheet during the current slump. Analysts have cut estimates for company earnings worldwide by $1 trillion since October, suggesting profits may tumble as much as 45 percent this year amid the global recession, Societe Generale SA’s Andrew Lapthorne wrote in a note Jan 23. Earnings at companies in the Stoxx 600 will fall 2.2 percent on average this year following a 17 percent slump in 2008, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. Royal Philips Electronics NV may be active. Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics posted its first quarterly loss in almost six years and said it will stop its share buyback program “until further notice.” Total SA, Europe’s biggest refiner, may advance after Merrill Lynch & Co. lifted its recommendation on the shares to “buy” from “neutral,” citing the “quality of the business in a difficult environment.”

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