U.S. stock futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may end a two-day advance, after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delayed the announcement of the Obama administration’s financial-recovery plan. Morgan Stanley, the second-largest U.S. securities firm before becoming a bank-holding company in September, dropped 2 percent in Germany. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and American Express Co. also declined. NYSE Euronext, the world’s biggest owner of stock exchanges, tumbled 4.6 percent after reporting a fourth-quarter net loss. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March decreased 0.8 percent to 860.7 as of 12:18 p.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.6 percent to 8,206 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures slipped 0.3 percent to 1,272. European stocks fluctuated, while Asian shares retreated. “The amplitude of the work needed to get out of the crisis is so great, and we wonder if the financial assistance will be enough,” said Emmanuel Soupre, a fund manager at Neuflize OBC in Paris, which oversees about $23 billion. “It’s essential to work quickly,” he told Bloomberg Television. Still outstanding in the government’s recovery plan is the illiquid assets that have caused the credit freeze. Officials continue to consider a so-called bad bank to buy them, perhaps in cooperation with private investors, such as hedge funds and private equity. Geithner is scheduled to unveil the effort at 11 a.m. tomorrow in Washington. Stocks snapped four weeks of losses last week on speculation the deteriorating economy would force Congress to reach a compromise on President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package. Europe, Asia The S&P 500 has climbed 15 percent from the 11-year low it reached Nov. 20. The benchmark dropped 38 percent last year, its worst performance since the Great Depression. The S&P 500, Dow and MSCI World Index posted their steepest January declines as companies reported disappointing earnings and the U.S. economy shrank at the fastest pace in 26 years. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.1 percent, after earlier dropping as much as 0.9 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 0.4 percent. Morgan Stanley declined 2 percent to $22.42. JPMorgan, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, fell 0.7 percent to $27.44. American Express, the biggest U.S. credit-card issuer by purchases, slipped 0.4 percent to $17.85. NYSE Euronext lost 4.6 percent to $21.84 in France. The owner of stock exchanges reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.34 billion, or $5.06 a share, after making a $1.59 billion writedown related to the acquisition of Euronext. ‘Intangible Assets’ Excluding some items, profit was 52 cents a share, compared with a 55 cent average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. The charge relates to goodwill and “intangible assets related to the merger of NYSE Group and Euronext,” the exchange said. UnitedHealth Group Inc. added 3 percent to $29.81 in Germany. The company’s shares may surge 73 percent or more in the next year as its business with Medicare and Medicaid patients receives a boost from President Barack Obama’s health-care policy, Barron’s said, citing analysts and investors. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC may have to be forced into bankruptcy by the U.S. government to assure repayment of $17.4 billion in federal bailout loans, a course of action the automakers claim would destroy them. GM, the nation’s largest carmaker, was unchanged at $2.84 in German trading. Wyeth, Pfizer Wyeth and Pfizer Inc. had their recommendations raised to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS AG, which cited the companies’ valuations. Wyeth, which is being bought by Pfizer, added 0.6 percent to $43.69 in German trading, while Pfizer increased 1.3 percent to $15.03. The biggest bears in U.S. stocks are losing their conviction after the steepest decline in the S&P 500 since the Great Depression. The number of shares borrowed and sold short on the New York Stock Exchange fell 28 percent last month from the peak in July. Companies in the S&P 500 trade at the lowest multiples of earnings in 18 years.

Source