World stocks drop from three-week high amid US data

Global stocks fell from a threeweek high, with equities heading for their first December decline since 2008, as energy stocks slid, and investors continued to weigh the implications of early Greek elections.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.5 percent to 342.52 at 9:41 a.m. in London. Greece's ASE Index slid 0.6 percent, extending a 17-month low reached yesterday when Prime Minister Antonis Samaras failed a third time to get enough backing for his presidential candidate, prompting him to recommend snap parliamentary elections.

The Prime Minister will meet with President Karolos Papoulias in Athens today to request elections on Jan. 25. The opposition Syriza party leads polls as it pushes to abandon the austerity measures tied to Greece's bailout. "It hasn't been a fantastic year for equities, and now those who can, are taking profits," Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management Ltd., said by phone from London. "The concerns about Greece and the euro zone, the price of oil, and the Fed hiking rates are not critical, but they do add up. There is this feeling that the good years of the bull market are behind us. Next year will be more difficult."

The Stoxx 600 has fallen 1.4 percent this month, trimming its annual advance to 4.4 percent. The measure had rallied in the past two weeks as energy shares rebounded from a slump, the Federal Reserve said it will be patient in the timing of interest-rate increases, and the U.S. economy expanded at a faster pace than forecast. The volume of Stoxx 600 shares changing hands today was 41 percent lower than the 30-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

U.S. data today will show consumer confidence increased in December, according to economist forecasts. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures retreated 0.3 percent after the underlying gauge closed at a record. In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) lost 0.5 percent amid thin volumes, heading for its first annual drop since 2011. A gauge of energy stocks posted the worst performance of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx 600 after oil fell for a fourth day.

Crude extended losses from a fiveyear low amid speculation that U.S. inventories will stay at the highest level since June, offering no relief from a global glut.