European stocks and U.S. index futures fell as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy rejected an expansion of the region’s rescue fund and rebuffed calls for joint euro borrowing. Asian shares advanced. Carlsberg A/S, the Nordic region’s largest brewer, plunged 15 percent after reducing its full-year outlook. Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1) and London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) lost more than 4 percent amid plans for a financial-transaction tax. Logitech International SA (LOGN) slipped 3.3 percent after Dell Inc. missed analysts’ sales estimates and cut its revenue forecast. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.8 percent to 235.67 at 8:03 a.m. in London. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slid 0.3 percent. “Many market participants remain in a jittery mindset and this is something that is unlikely to change in the near term,” said Cameron Peacock, a market analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index has declined 18 percent from this year’s high on Feb. 17, on concern that Europe will fail to contain its sovereign-debt crisis and that the economic recovery is faltering in the U.S. The retreat has left the European benchmark trading at 9.8 times the estimated earnings of its companies, near the lowest valuation since March 2009. Merkel, Sarkozy Talks Merkel and Sarkozy agreed to press for closer euro-area cooperation, tougher deficit rules and a harmonization of their corporate tax rates. A plan to resubmit a financial-transaction tax, which the European Union rejected in 2010, sent stocks lower in New York trading. The leaders of the euro area’s two biggest economies spoke after a two-hour meeting in Paris. A report due at 8:30 a.m. New York time today may show wholesale costs in the U.S. began to stabilize in July, reflecting a slowdown in global demand. Producer prices rose 0.1 percent last month, according to the median forecast of 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. To contact the reporter on this story: Julie Cruz in Frankfurt at jcruz6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer in London at arummer@bloomberg.net;

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