U.S. Stock Futures Decline as Rating Cuts Increase Euro-Area Debt Concern

U.S. stock-index futures dropped after Standard & Poor’s cut the credit ratings of nine euro-area nations, including France, signaling the region’s debt crisis is worsening.

Carnival Corp. (CCL) tumbled 15 percent in German trading after its Costa Concordia cruise liner ran aground off Italy’s Tuscan coast, killing at least six people and injuring 60.

S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures expiring in March declined 0.2 percent to 1,286.2 at 1:19 p.m. in London. The equity gauge climbed 0.9 percent last week and reached a five-month high on Jan. 12. U.S. stock markets are closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday today. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 14 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,376.

S&P warned on Jan. 13 that the euro area’s efforts to fight its sovereign-debt crisis have fallen short as it lowered the top ratings of France and Austria by one level to AA+. The New York-based company downgraded Italy, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus by two steps and cut Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by one level. It affirmed the grades of countries including Germany, Belgium and Ireland.

From: Bloomberg