U.S. stock-index futures rose as Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s third-biggest bank, said it had a strong start to the year, the Group of 20 vowed to step up efforts to revive the global economy and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the recession may end soon. Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the three largest U.S. banks, which last week said they were profitable in the first two months of 2009, added more than 2.5 percent as Barclays said its businesses continue to perform well. Finance chiefs from the G-20 vowed to work together to clean up the toxic assets that helped trigger the financial crisis and led banks to rack up more than $1.2 trillion in losses. Bernanke said in an interview broadcast on CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” yesterday that, should the government succeed in stabilizing financial markets, the recession will probably end this year and the economy will expand in 2010. “We are making a lot of progress now,” said Dan Veru, who helps oversee $2.8 billion at Palisade Capital Management in Fort Lee, New Jersey. “The banks are clearly the most critical component to an economic recovery in the U.S. and the global economy. These are clearly moves in the right direction,” he told Bloomberg Radio, referring to recent comments from Barclays, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Citigroup. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in June added 1.1 percent to 763.4 at 11:24 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 1 percent to 7,251. Nasdaq-100 Index futures rose 0.6 percent to 1,175.25. Most Since November The S&P 500 rallied the most since November last week as takeover speculation lifted health-care companies and financial shares capped the steepest advance on record. The U.S. stock benchmark has declined 16 percent in 2009, rising in only two of 10 weeks this year, as falling shares of banks raised concern the government would be forced to nationalize some lenders. Citigroup surged 11 percent to $1.98 in pre-market trading in New York today. Bank of America gained 6.9 percent to $6.16 and JPMorgan added 2.8 percent to $24.41. Barclays also said it has held talks about the sale of iShares, the exchange-traded funds unit of Barclays Global Investors, though no decision on the sale of any assets has been made. Treasuries declined, sending yields on 30-year bonds to near the highest level in almost four months, according to BGCantor Market Data. ‘Move Quickly’ U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he will soon announce details of his plan to help banks clean up the non- performing assets that are clogging the financial system. “We’re going to move quickly to lay out a new financing program to deal with these legacy assets,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg television two days ago during the G-20 meeting in Horsham, England. U.S. industrial production probably fell in February for the sixth time in seven months as cutbacks at automakers and collapsing exports rippled across the U.S., economists said before a report due at 9:15 a.m. in Washington today. The Federal Reserve may report that output at factories, mines and utilities dropped 1.3 percent last month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

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