U.S. Stock Futures Rise Before Factory-Orders Data

U.S. stock futures climbed, signaling the Standard & Poor's 500 Index will gain for a second day, as investors awaited reports on U.S. factory orders and comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Zynga Inc. advanced 4.4 percent in German trading after naming a new chief executive officer. Nielsen Holdings NV rose 3.7 percent in overnight New York trading on being included in the benchmark gauge. DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. tumbled 8.3 percent in Frankfurt after the government proposed reducing payments to dialysis-center operators.

S&P 500 (SPX) futures expiring in September rose 0.3 percent to 1,611.7 at 9:55 a.m. in London. The equity benchmark has dropped 3.3 percent since May 21, the day before Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the central bank could scale back asset purchases if the economy improves in line with forecasts. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,920 today.

"We've gone heavily overweight on equities," Ramin Nakisa, an allocation strategist at UBS AG in London, told Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television. "We see this as a buying opportunity. We still think that U.S. equities are the place to be. That's our biggest overweight."

The S&P 500 climbed 1.2 percent yesterday after data showed manufacturing grew faster than forecast in June and construction spending increased.

Factory Orders

A Commerce Department report at 10 a.m. in Washington may show that U.S. factory orders rose 2 percent in May, according to the median forecast of 61 economists in a Bloomberg survey. They rose 1 percent in April.

New York Fed President William C. Dudley speaks on the economy at 12:30 p.m. in Connecticut. Fed Governor Jerome Powell will address a Deutsche Bundesbank reception at 5:45 p.m. in New York about reforming international financial regulations.

Zynga rose 4.4 percent to $3.21 in German trading. The maker of social-networking games named Don Mattrick, the former head of Microsoft's entertainment division, as its new CEO. Mattrick will start July 8, the company said.

Nielsen Holdings, the biggest provider of U.S. television ratings, gained 3.7 percent to $34.50 in overnight trading. The company will replace Sprint Nextel Corp. in the S&P 500 after the end of trading July 8, S&P said in a statement.

DaVita HealthCare tumbled 8.3 percent to $111.04 in German trading. Dialysis-center operators may see U.S. payments reduced 9.4 percent in 2014 under a Medicare proposal. The government will consider phasing reductions over more than a year, the Health and Human Services Department said yesterday in a regulatory filing. The proposal is subject to public comment and may change before taking effect.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. plunged 19 percent to $6.77 in pre-market trading. The company said U.S. regulators stopped the clinical trial of one of its drugs for hepatitis C after some patients experienced elevated liver enzymes.