European stocks fell from almost a six-week high as German investor confidence unexpectedly dropped. U.S. futures were little changed before industrial production data, while copper rose and the dollar weakened. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4 percent at 8:48 a.m. in London. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures drifted between gains and losses after the U.S. gauge closed at a record. Copper climbed 1.5 percent. India’s rupee and Poland’s zloty advanced 1 percent, leading gains in developing-nation currencies, while the dollar slipped against 15 of 16 major peers before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s remarks to Congress tomorrow. German investor confidence unexpectedly dropped in July, data from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim showed. Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc. and Johnson & Johnson reported earnings today, among 76 S&P 500 company results due this week. India’s central bank raised two interest rates to bolster the slumping rupee. “Investors are trying to find excuses to take a little bit of breath,� said John Plassard, who helps oversee $28 billion as vice president at Mirabaud Securities LLP in Geneva. “People are waiting for the two days of testimony from Bernanke and that could be a good excuse to take a little bit of profit.� Europe Retreat The Stoxx 600 erased an earlier advance of 0.1 percent as travel, media and telecommunications shares led losses. Telecom Italia SpA (TIT) slid as much as 4.1 percent to a 16-year low in Milan after putting a plan to spin off its fixed-line assets on hold. About 74 percent of the S&P 500’s companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten analyst forecasts, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Goldman Sachs, the world’s most profitable securities firm before the financial crisis, reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates on a jump in fixed-income trading and investment-banking revenue. Second-quarter net income more than doubled to $1.93 billion, or $3.70 a share. Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.1 percent after its earnings more than doubled in the second quarter after it sold its stake in Elan Corp. and the company boosted its profit forecast. The U.S. earnings season “seems to have started off quite well, and we need the fundamentals to come through to support where prices have gone over the past year,� said Keith Poore, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. in Wellington, which manages more than $130 billion. CPI, ZEW The consumer-price index in the U.S. increased 0.5 percent after a 0.1 percent gain the prior month, Labor Department figures showed today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.3 percent rise. The biggest advance in gasoline prices in four months accounted for about two-thirds of the gain in the CPI. The core measure, which excludes food and fuel, rose 0.2 percent, matching the May gain and the survey median. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, fell to 36.3 from 38.5 in June. That’s the first decline in three months. Economists forecast a gain to 40, according to the median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Three stocks fell for every two that gained in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which rose 0.2 percent. India’s Sensex index slid 0.9 percent while the rupee jumped 1.1 percent, leading gains in developing-nation currencies, after the central bank raised two interest rates. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3 percent, Russia’s Micex Index advanced 0.4 percent and benchmark gauges in Hungary and the Czech Republic lost at least 0.2 percent. The dollar declined 0.4 percent to 99.49 yen. The U.S. currency slid 0.4 percent to $1.3110 per euro. Australia’s dollar climbed at least 0.4 percent against all 16 of its major peers as investors pared bets the Reserve Bank will cut borrowing costs after the minutes of its most recent meeting were released today. Copper climbed 1.5 percent to $7,021.50 a metric ton, the first gain in three days. West Texas Intermediate crude oil added 0.6 percent to $106.95 a barrel. To contact the reporter on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

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