U.S. stock-index futures rose and the dollar weakened as the Group of 20’s pledge to avoid “competitive devaluation” added to speculation that the Federal Reserve will announce further bond purchases next week. Citigroup Inc. gained 2.2 percent in early New York trading after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added the stock to its “conviction buy” list, saying the shares may jump 34 percent in 12 months. Applied Signal Technology Inc. rallied 6.1 percent as the maker of equipment for collecting and processing signals for the U.S. military hired Bank of America Corp. to explore strategic options for the company, including a possible sale. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December gained 0.8 percent to 1,189.5 as of 11:48 a.m. in London. The S&P 500 has climbed for the last three weeks. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 0.6 percent to 11,157 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures also rose 0.6 percent to 2,115.75 today. The dollar reached a 15-year low against the yen. The G-20 meeting “has reaffirmed the status quo and going forward we are likely to see the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan go on with quantitative easing,” said Kelvin Tay, the chief investment strategist for UBS AG Wealth Management in Singapore. Equities’ strength “has been largely driven by the fact that the U.S. dollar has actually weakened quite substantially against all major currencies since Ben Bernanke’s Jackson Hole speech” at the end of August. The Dollar Index, which measures the currency against a basket of six major currencies, has slumped 7.6 percent since the end of August while the S&P 500 has rallied 13 percent. G-20 Meeting G-20 finance ministers and central bankers ended talks in South Korea on Oct. 23 saying that they will refrain from “competitive devaluation” and let markets set foreign-exchange rates. The dollar weakened as the pledge damped speculation that governments will buy the currency to weaken their own. More than 85 percent of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies that have posted third-quarter results since Oct. 7 topped the average analyst profit projection. U.S. companies are poised to report their fourth straight quarterly earnings increase as speculation that the Fed will inject more money into the economy boosted investor confidence and offset uncertainty about global currency markets. The Fed said on Oct. 20 that U.S. economic growth showed little sign of accelerating last month, bolstering speculation that the central bank will act to stimulate growth. Existing Home Sales Sales of U.S. existing homes probably climbed in September for a second month as the industry that precipitated the worst recession since the 1930s struggled to overcome mounting foreclosures, economists said before a National Association of Realtors report due at 10 a.m. in Washington today. Citigroup gained 2.2 percent to $4.20. Goldman Sachs has a price estimate of $5.50 on the shares, which is 34 percent higher than their last closing price of $4.11 apiece. Applied Signal Technology rose 6.1 percent to $33.25 in after-hours trading on Oct. 22. The maker of equipment for collecting and processing signals for the U.S. military hired Bank of America to explore strategic options for the company, including a possible sale. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. may move after the North American bottler acquired by Coca-Cola Co. boosted its quarterly dividend to 12 cents a share from 9 cents. CommScope Inc. may move after saying that The Carlyle Group has held talks about acquiring all of the communications equipment maker’s stock for $31.50 a share. The shares did not trade in Europe or the U.S. today. To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Merritt at dmerritt1@bloomberg.net.

Source