on wall street tonight

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Are Little Changed; McDonald's Falls

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures were little changed as crude oil in New York rose for a sixth day, its longest rally since August. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and McDonald's Corp. dropped in Europe.

``Consumer spending could come down because of the oil price,'' said Juergen Lukasser, head of equities at Constantia Privatbank AG in Vienna, which manages $9.4 billion in assets. ``It's the stock market's greatest challenge.'' He said he's avoiding U.S. consumer-related stocks.

Shares of Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft-drink maker, slid ahead of a meeting with analysts today. Microsoft Corp. fell after losing an antitrust ruling in South Korea.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring this month were unchanged at 1265.5 as of 9:26 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 1 to 10,877 and Nasdaq 100 Index futures were unchanged at 1704.5.

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, lost 26 cents to $47.36 in Germany. McDonald's, the biggest restaurant chain, fell 9 cents to $35.07 in Switzerland.

Shares of Wal-Mart have slid 2.8 percent over the last five days, the worst performance on the Dow average. The company has said that higher energy prices curb spending at its stores. Coca- Cola and Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home-improvement retailer, have also underperformed the Dow in the period.

Oil climbed ahead of a report that may show U.S. stockpiles fell last week. Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 0.9 percent to $60.49 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Coca-Cola dropped 27 cents to $42.27 in Germany. The company will hold an analyst day to discuss its business strategy from 1 p.m. in New York.

Microsoft

Microsoft slipped 6 cents to $27.63 in Germany. The world's largest software maker was punished for breaching antitrust rules by South Korea, the first country to follow Europe in forcing the company to sell multiple versions of its operating system.

The company will have to offer consumers the choice of buying Windows without its media player and instant-messaging software and pay a 33 billion won ($32 million) fine. Microsoft will appeal, company lawyer Tom Burt said in an e-mail.

While South Korea accounts for less than 1 percent of Microsoft's sales, the ruling may encourage challenges in other countries, Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff said.

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Inc., the world's biggest maker of mobile- phone chips, may say revenue and profit this quarter are headed for the high end of its forecasts as demand soars. The company will update its forecast for the quarter after the close of New York trading today. The shares fell 12 cents to $33.17 in Germany.

WellPoint Inc. lost $2.58, or 3.3 percent, to $76.49 in extended trading. The largest U.S. health-insurance provider reiterated it expects a full-year profit of $3.93 a share, less than the average estimate of $3.99 from 18 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The company also said that its 2006 profit will be $4.51 a share, including 18 cents a share in stock-option expenses. The stock didn't trade in Europe.

Shares of Federated Department Stores Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. may rise. The three stocks were rated ``buy'' in new coverage at UBS AG. Saks Inc., which was started at ``reduce,'' may fall.

UBS also rated Kohl's Corp. and Dillard's Inc. ``neutral.'' Merrill Lynch & Co. raised Dillard's shares to ``neutral'' from ``sell.'' The retailers' shares didn't trade in Europe.

Comverse Technology

Comverse Technology Inc. rose $1, or 3.8 percent, to $27.40 in trading after the close of U.S. markets. The world's No. 1 maker of telephone voice-mail software said fiscal third-quarter profit, excluding some items, was 17 cents a share. That was more than the average estimate of 15 cents from 20 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The stock didn't trade in Europe.

Nuance Communications Inc. climbed 16 cents to $6.28 in Germany. The maker of voice-recognition software, which changed its name from ScanSoft Inc. after its purchase of Nuance in May, said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit, excluding some items, was 6 cents a share, compared with break-even a year earlier.

U.S. shares advanced yesterday, helped by a government report that showed companies are getting more work from employees and paying less for them.

The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 1263.70. The Dow gained 0.2 percent to 10,856.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.1 percent to 2260.76.