European Stock Futures Drop, Indicating New Four-Week Low

European stock futures declined, indicating the Stoxx 600 Europe Index will extend a four-week low, amid concern the Federal Reserve will cut back its debt-buying program and as a gauge of Chinese manufacturing fell. Asian shares declined while U.S. futures rose.

Sanofi may be active after saying it will take a $285 million impairment charge. SGS SA may move after Exor SpA sold a stake in the company for 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion). Rio Tinto Group may move after a person familiar with the matter said the mining company is pursuing an initial public offering for its gem unit.

Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro area, fell 0.9 percent to 2,750 at 7:11 a.m. in London. Contracts on the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slid 0.8 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.2 percent after the benchmark U.S. gauge sank 1.4 percent on May 31. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.3 percent, on course for the lowest close since February.

“European equities are set to slide on the open following a weak close in the U.S. on Friday and choppy trading overnight in Asia,” Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at Capital Spreads in London, wrote in e-mailed comments. “U.S. markets took a turn for the worse and proceeded to sell off right into the close on Friday as Fed uncertainty continues to keep traders in a bipolar state.”

The Stoxx 600 climbed 1.4 percent in May, completing a 12th straight month of gains. That was the longest winning streak since July 1997. The gauge still fell to the lowest level since May 2 last week.

China Economy

HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics said their Chinese manufacturing index, released today, fell to 49.2 in May from 50.4 in April. A reading below 50 signals contraction. An official index for the world’s second-biggest economy, released June 1, rose to 50.8 last month from 50.6 in April.

The final reading on a purchasing managers’ index of manufacturing in the 17-nation euro area probably held at 47.8 in May, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey before London-based Markit Economics releases the data today.

In the U.S., the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index held at 50.7 during the month, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 71 economists. The data is due at 10 a.m. New York time.

Sanofi may be active. The Paris-based drugmaker will take an impairment after its Iniparib compound failed to meet the primary endpoint in a phase-three lung-cancer trial. Its Otamixaban anticoagulant has also been discontinued after failing to meet goals, Sanofi said.

SGS Stake

SGS may be active after Exor, the Agnelli family holding company that is Fiat’s biggest shareholder, sold a stake in the world’s largest product inspector.

Rio Tinto may move. The company hired Morgan Stanley to oversee an IPO of the gems division in London, the person said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. The unit is the world’s biggest supplier of natural-colored diamonds.

Bloomberg