Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell after Target Corp. said December sales may decline, spurring concern that last-minute Christmas shopping failed to save retailers from the slowest holiday season in five years.

Target, the second-biggest U.S. discount chain, slid after saying customer visits slowed following the Thanksgiving holiday. Merrill Lynch & Co. declined after CIBC World Markets Inc. said the world's largest brokerage may report a writedown of as much as $7 billion. Futures extended declines after a private survey showed that home prices fell in October by the most in at least six years.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in March decreased 5 to 1,501.6 at 9:16 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 32 to 13,595. Nasdaq-100 Index futures slipped 4 to 2,144. Asian stocks climbed to a two-week high after Toyota Motor Corp. raised its sales forecast for next year. Most European markets were closed.

``Everybody's going to want to try to read into some early data on sales and what it means to retailers,'' said Andy Brooks, head equity trader at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore, which has $397 billion in assets. ``It's a little tricky out there.''

Retailers in the S&P 500 have tumbled 16 percent as a group this year as rising energy costs and slumping home values curb consumer spending. The National Retail Federation forecast a 4 percent increase in total sales for the holidays, the smallest increase since 2002.

Target, Merrill

Target fell $1.39 to $51.08. Sales at stores open at least a year may post anywhere from a 1 percent decrease to a 1 percent increase for the five weeks through Jan. 5 after adjusting for a shift in the calendar, the Minneapolis-based company said on a recorded call after markets closed on Dec. 24. Target had predicted a gain of as much as 5 percent.

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, slumped 43 cents to $48.31.

Merrill dropped 68 cents to $53.22. CIBC had previously estimated Merrill would post a $6 billion writedown in the fourth quarter.

Property values fell 6.1 percent in October from the previous year, more than forecast, after dropping 4.9 percent in September, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., billionaire investor Warren Buffett's holding company, may be active after saying it will pay $4.5 billion to take control of closely held Marmon Holdings Inc.

Berkshire will pay $4.5 billion for 60 percent of Marmon Holdings Inc., adding another family-run company that prospered without shareholder demands for short-term profits. Chicago's Pritzker family, which controls Global Hyatt Corp., built Marmon into a group with $7 billion in annual sales and 125 units including operations that serve the railroad and energy industries.

Asia Gains

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.5 percent. The measure, which has added 12 percent this year, is on course for its fifth annual increase.

U.S. stocks rose Dec. 24, sending benchmark indexes to the highest levels in two weeks, as falling interest rates and a $33.3 billion agreement to restructure Canadian commercial debt improved the outlook for credit markets.

The S&P 500 has climbed 3 percent over the last three trading days, trimming its fourth-quarter drop to 2 percent, after a concerted effort by central banks in North America and Europe helped push down borrowing costs. The benchmark for American equities has advanced 5.5 percent this year and is headed for its fifth straight annual gain.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 26, 2007 09:17 EST