U.S. stock futures were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index reached a five- year high, as Group of 20 finance chiefs met in Moscow. Kraft Foods Group Inc. slid 1.1 percent after the grocery business said revenue declined. Herbalife Ltd. surged 18 percent after billionaire investor Carl Icahn reported a 13 percent stake in the company. S&P 500 futures expiring in March declined less than 0.1 percent to 1,518 at 8:16 a.m. in New York. The gauge has climbed 0.2 percent this week, bringing its advance this month to 1.6 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 13,939 today. “Equities have got off to a great start this year,� said Ioan Smith, a strategist at Knight Capital Europe Ltd. In London. “Since late January they’ve almost slowed down to a standstill and volatility has dropped to six-year lows. With the sequester now just days away, it’s very difficult to see the catalyst to give us another leg higher.� The S&P 500 closed at the highest level since Oct. 31, 2007, yesterday. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of S&P 500 options prices known as the VIX, fell 2.5 percent to 12.66. The volatility measure reached a 5 1/2-year low of 12.43 on Jan. 22. Moscow Meeting G-20 finance ministers and central bankers begin talks in the Russian capital today to find some common ground on currencies, with investors seeking clarity on how comfortable they are with a sliding yen. Russia, who holds the G-20’s rotating presidency this year, wants to head off a global currency war by pushing policy makers to make stronger commitments against exchange-rate manipulation. U.S. lawmakers face a March 1 deadline to agree a deal avoiding scheduled budget cuts, a process known as sequestration. Senate Democrats unveiled a $110 billion plan yesterday to delay federal spending cuts, including tax increases Republicans already say they won’t accept. The plan would postpone the March 1 start of more than $1 trillion in cuts until 2014, replacing them with defense-spending reductions, a halt in direct payments to farmers and a tax increase imposing a minimum 30 percent rate on top earners. Investors are awaiting manufacturing data to help gauge the strength of the U.S. recovery. A report at 9:15 a.m. New York time may show industrial production climbed 0.2 percent in January after a 0.3 percent gain the previous month, according to the median economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Consumer Confidence Other releases may show manufacturing in the New York area contracted at a slower pace this month and consumer sentiment improved. The S&P 500 has climbed 6.7 percent in 2013 as U.S. lawmakers reached a budget compromise. The benchmark gauge has more than doubled since bottoming in March 2009 as the Federal Reserve conducted three rounds of bond buying to lower interest rates and boost economic growth. Kraft Foods lost 1.1 percent to $46.65. The company reported preliminary net revenue of $4.49 billion for the fourth quarter, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $4.73 billion. CBS Corp. declined 1.8 percent to $42.16 after the owner of the most-watched U.S. television network reported fourth-quarter net income of $393 million, or 60 cents a share, as online licensing fees fell. Excluding items, profit of 64 cents missed the 69-cent average of analysts’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Herbalife jumped 18 percent to $45.31 after Icahn reported a holding of 13 percent and said he would seek talks with the nutrition supplements company. The announcement raises the stakes in Icahn’s battle with rival hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman over the future of Herbalife. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

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