By Whitney Kisling and Julie Cruz March 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures fell after Moody’s Investors Service said the nation has moved closer to losing its AAA credit rating and concern grew that China and India will restrict economic growth to curb inflation. ConocoPhillips and Schlumberger Ltd. dropped as oil retreated for a second day. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, followed metal prices lower. Futures pared declines after a Federal Reserve gauge of manufacturing in the New York region expanded for an eight straight month. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. advanced as Citigroup Inc. recommended buying the shares. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in June fell 0.3 percent to 1,143.7 at 8:46 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 0.2 percent to 10,556 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures dropped 0.2 percent to 1,919.75. “We’re facing many problems and everybody is wondering what to do,” said Robert Halver, head of research at Baader Bank in Frankfurt. The S&P 500 slipped from a 17-month high on March 12 as a drop in consumer confidence overshadowed an unexpected increase in retail sales. U.S. lawmakers and economists say China’s reluctance to let the yuan appreciate is threatening global competitiveness at a time when Premier Wen Jiabao also is taking steps to rein in growth in the world’s third-largest economy. Wen rebuffed calls yesterday for a stronger yuan, while Morgan Stanley said it expects increases in bank-reserve ratio requirements and higher interest rates as early as April. Greece Bailout European shares slipped today as the region’s finance ministers plan work on still-secret plans to help Greece overcome its debt crisis today, while counting on the country’s belt-tightening steps to make a bailout unnecessary. The governments of the U.S. and the U.K. must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview. Under the ratings company’s baseline scenario the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report. ConocoPhillips dropped 0.5 percent to $51.40, while Schlumberger slipped 0.4 percent to $64.25. Crude oil for April delivery fell as much as 80 cents, or 1 percent, to $80.44 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Freeport-McMoRan Freeport declined 0.9 percent to $79.80, while Alcoa lost 0.4 percent to $13.54 in early New York trading. Copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc all fell on the London Metal Exchange today as a stronger dollar weighed on commodities. MGM Mirage lost 0.7 percent to $11.72 as the casino operator and Dubai World said the primary general contractor for their Las Vegas joint venture CityCenter intends to file mechanics’ liens claiming about $492 million. Arch Coal Inc. lost 2.4 percent to $24.75 as HSBC Holdings Plc downgraded the shares to “neutral” from “overweight.” Wal-Mart Upgrade Wal-Mart gained 0.9 percent to $54.40 in early trading as the stock was raised to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup, which said the retailer is set to win market share with price cuts. Wal-Mart’s “price savings no longer outweigh the experience and convenience of shopping the supermarkets,” Citigroup wrote in a report dated March 14. “As the economy improves, we expect Wal-Mart to fight harder to keep this customer by increasing rollbacks to drive mindshare and market share.” PepsiCo Inc. gained 1.5 percent to $66.05 in early New York trading. The world’s second-largest soda maker said its directors approved a 7 percent increase in the annual dividend on PepsiCo common stock from the current annual rate to $1.92 a share. Directors also authorized the repurchase of as much as $15 billion of PepsiCo common stock through June 2013.

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