U.S. stock-index futures fell after analysts said banks face up to $203 billion more in credit write downs and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned that the economy is on the verge of a recession, Bloomberg reported today.

Futures extended declines after a Fed report showed manufacturing in New York unexpectedly declined for the first time in almost three years and the Labor Department said prices of imported goods climbed more than economists had forecast.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. share prices dropped after UBS AG said banks are at risk of further losses as bond insurers such as MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc. face credit-ratings cuts. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of earthmoving machines, led a decline in industrial shares after Greenspan said the economy may shrink for the first time in six years. European stocks fell and Asia’s benchmark rose.

“The banks are now looking into the headlights like worried rabbits,’ said David Buik, market analyst at BGC Partners in London, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “They don’t know how much money they’ve lost; the size of their balance sheets has collapsed.’

Standard and Poor’s 500 index futures expiring in March lost 12.8 to 1,338.3 at 8:36 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones industrial average futures sank 94 to 12,302. Nasdaq100 index futures lost 17.5 to 1,776.75.

U.S. stocks fell yesterday for the first time this week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that a scarcity of credit will restrain economic growth. The S&P 500 has lost 8.1 percent in 2008 on concern the economy may have already fallen into recession.