European stocks were little changed as Italy and Spain prepared for their first debt auctions this year and after the Federal Reserve said America's economy improved last month.
US index futures and Asian shares fell. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose 1.7 per cent after saying it will eliminate jobs. Tesco was the worst performer, down 9.6 per cent, after it warned it would see minimal profit growth next year.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped less than 0.1 per cent to 249.77 at 8:04 a.m. in London. The March contract on the Standard and Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 0.3 per cent.
Italy and Spain will seek to sell as much as €17 billion in debt as Premier Mario Monti seeks recognition for austerity efforts and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vows to meet his budget-deficit goal.
In their first auctions of 2012, Spain will sell as much as €5 billion of bonds, including a new three-year benchmark security. Italy, which needs to repay more than €50 billion in bonds in the first quarter, will sell as much as €12 billion of bills today and €4.75 billion of bonds tomorrow. Germany received more than double the maximum bid target in a sale of notes yesterday.
Meanwhile, the euro zone central bank is widely expected to keep rates at 1.0 per cent at its meeting today. The euro was 0.4 percent from a 16- month low against the dollar amid concern European Central Bank policy makers won't take steps to support growth at their meeting today.
The meeting is the first for two new policymakers - Germany's Joerg Asmussen and Frenchman Benoit Coeure.
Central bank watchers' interest will focus on today's news conference with ECB President Mario Draghi. Markets are looking for any sign the ECB could steer rates into uncharted territory in coming months - most analysts expect a cut in February or March - or whether it is happy to leave them as the economy is showing some tentative signs of life.
To fight the crisis, the ECB last month started giving banks ultra-long loans, eased collateral rules and kept buying government bonds - as well as cutting interest rates for the second time since Draghi took over the presidency on November 1st.
"The ECB has done an awful lot in the last couple of months and this calls for a period of consolidation, let the dust settle and see what's happening," Societe Generale economist James Nixon said.
The euro was little changed at $1.2715 at 8:22 a.m. London time, after sliding to as low as $1.2662 yesterday, the weakest level since September 2010.
Reuters/Bloomberg