U.S. Stock-Index Futures Slump on European Debt-Crisis Concern

U.S. stock-index futures tumbled, tracking a global equity-market rout, as concern mounted that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis has spread to Italy.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest U.S. lender by assets, led financial shares lower, sliding 1.4 percent. Alcoa Inc. (AA) lost 2.2 percent as profit at the largest U.S. aluminum producer missed analysts’ estimates. Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) declined 5.1 as the semiconductor maker forecast earnings below analysts’ projections.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September lost 1 percent to 1,304.9 at 7:06 a.m. in New York after the gauge yesterday posted its biggest two-day drop since March. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slumped 89 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,400.

“There is no agreement,” said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in a Bloomberg Television interview from Brussels. “That makes the market extremely nervous at the moment. It’s very important for policy makers across the board to get their act together very soon.”

In Europe, options prices and bets on higher equity volatility jumped to the highest in almost four months. The VStoxx Index (V2X), which measures options on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, surged 16 percent to 30.52. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, advanced 15 percent yesterday. That’s the biggest rally in almost a month for the gauge that measures the cost of options on the S&P 500.

Trade Balance
A U.S. report due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington today may show that the country’s trade deficit was little changed in May. The gap was $44.1 billion last month, compared with a shortfall of $43.7 billion in April, according to the median of 73 economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Bank of America slid 1.4 percent to $10.20 and Citigroup Inc. (C) retreated 1.4 percent to $39.22 in early New York trading. Morgan Stanley (MS) declined 1.2 percent to $21.31 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) lost 0.9 percent to $130.86 in German trading. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) decreased 0.8 percent to $39.12.

Alcoa dropped 2.2 percent to $15.56 in Germany after the aluminum producer posted second-quarter profit excluding certain items of 32 cents a share, missing the 33-cent average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Alcoa unofficially kicked off the earnings season in the U.S. yesterday. A further 10 S&P 500 companies, including JPMorgan, Citigroup and Google Inc., are scheduled to post their second-quarter results this week.

Microchip Technology slumped 5.1 percent to $35.58 in early New York trading.