Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures were little changed after a five-day rally in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the longest streak of gains in almost two months.

``It's not surprising we're seeing a bit of hesitation,'' said Christian Holland, a fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management in London, which oversees about $700 million. ``We've had a dramatic rally. Personally I think the markets will go higher until the end of the year.'' He is buying Best Buy Co.

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. carmaker, fell in Europe, while Visteon Corp., an auto-parts maker and former Ford unit, slid after restating four years of results, widening losses. Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, advanced.

S&P 500 futures expiring in December added 0.4 to 1262.5 at 12:44 p.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 4 to 10,880. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 2 to 1698.5. Trading may be lighter than usual today before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The S&P 500 is headed for its best November in three years, helped by a decline in energy prices and economic reports that indicated growth with tame inflation. A report from the University of Michigan today may show consumer confidence rose this month.

Stocks climbed yesterday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed that some central bankers expressed concern about lifting rates too far. The bankers ``cautioned that risks of going too far with the tightening process'' may emerge.

`Nearing End'

``The Fed minutes showed that some members were concerned about excessive Fed tightening,'' said Jason Graybill, who helps manage $650 million at Abner Herrman & Brock Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey. ``That led the Street to believe that we're nearer to the end of the Fed tightening cycle than we have been in the last couple of quarters.''

The Fed voted 10-0 on Nov. 1 to raise its target rate by a quarter percentage point to 4 percent. The central bank has increased rates at every meeting since June 2004.

Patterson Cos., a supplier of dental, veterinary and rehabilitation products, and Dana Corp., the biggest maker of axles for light trucks, report earnings today.

Crude oil traded up 7 cents to $58.91 on expectations colder-than-normal weather in the U.S. will increase fuel use. Yesterday, the January contract rose $1.14. Prices have dropped 17 percent from a record reached on Aug. 30.

Ford fell 11 cents to $8.23 in Germany. The second-largest U.S. automaker's debt rating, already below investment grade, may be cut again by Moody's Investors Service, which cited declining sales of sport-utility vehicles and other light trucks.

Visteon, Harley-Davidson

Visteon dropped 10 cents to $6.81. The No. 2 U.S. car-parts maker said its 2004 loss was restated to $1.54 billion, compared with the $1.5 billion previously reported. Its 2003 loss widened to $1.23 billion from $1.21 billion, and the 2002 loss totaled $379 million, compared with $368 million earlier.

The company said in an Oct. 21 filing that it planned to restate the results after two former employees engaged in ``improper conduct.'' The stock has dropped 63 percent since it was spun off from Ford in June 2000.

Pfizer gained 12 cents to $21.50 in Switzerland.

Harley-Davidson Inc., fell 37 cents to $54.10 in Germany. The world's most profitable motorcycle maker is recalling about 13,400 of its 2006 model Dyna motorcycles because of a transmission defect.

Shares of Dofasco Inc. jumped C$9.97 to C$53.97 in Germany as 25 shares traded. Arcelor SA, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, made a C$4.3 billion ($3.7 billion) hostile bid for the Canadian company.

Patterson, Petco

Patterson reported fiscal 2006 second-quarter sales of $641.7 million, less than the $645.5 million expected by analysts in a Thomson Financial survey. The shares didn't trade in Europe.

Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry e-mail pager, plunged $6.95 to $71.93 in Germany after the company cut its forecast for signing up new clients 8 percent because of delays in introducing products.

Petco Animal Supplies Inc., the second-largest retailer of pet products in the U.S., fell $2.89 to $20.48 in U.S. trading yesterday after the official market close. The company said fourth-quarter earnings would be 44 cents to 48 cents a share. The company is expected to have profit of 50 cents a share, based on the average estimate of analysts in a Thomson survey.

Constellation Energy Group, the biggest U.S. power marketer, and buyout firms including Blackstone Group LP ended talks to buy U.K. electricity producer Drax Group Ltd. after failing to agree on the price. Constellation's shares didn't trade in Europe.

Sharper Image Corp., which sells products including a robotic vacuum, posted a net loss in the third quarter of 70 cents per share. Excluding a tax credit, the loss was 75 cents. Analysts on average expected a loss of 73 cents, according to Thomson. The shares did not trade in Europe.

Consumer Confidence

The University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment probably rose to 81 this month, up from a preliminary reading of 79.9 taken two weeks ago, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. The figure is expected at 9:45 a.m. in New York.

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for state unemployment benefits may have risen to 312,000 last week, up from a seven-month low of 303,000 the week before, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Labor Department will release the number at 10:00 a.m. in Washington.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent yesterday as did the Dow average and the Nasdaq Composite Index. The S&P 500's five-day gain is the longest consecutive advance since a seven-day rally ended Sept. 30. The index has climbed 4.5 percent in November, poised for the month's biggest gain since a 5.7 percent climb in November 2002.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Frankfurt at Cfournier3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 23, 2005 07:46 EST