U.S. index futures rose, European stocks pared declines and commodities advanced. The franc strengthened after the Swiss National Bank refrained from pegging the currency to the euro or adopting a target. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures gained 0.4 percent at 7:30 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.2 percent, paring declines of as much as 1.4 percent. The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities advanced 0.8 percent as oil jumped 1.5 percent. The 10-year German bund yield retreated five basis points to 2.27 percent. The cost of insuring European government debt rose for the first time in five days. The franc appreciated against its major counterparts. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said a pledge to keep U.S. interest rates near zero doesn’t signal a third stimulus program. The Swiss National Bank said it will expand liquidity, refraining from announcing tougher moves such as adopting a currency target. The advance in U.S. index futures indicated the S&P 500 will pare some of yesterday’s 1 percent drop. Data today may show prices paid to U.S. producers rose 0.1 percent in July after falling 0.4 percent the previous month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Staples Inc., the largest office-supply retailer, climbed 8 percent in pre-market trading after forecasting earnings that topped estimates. Deere & Co., the world’s largest farm- equipment maker, said profit jumped 15 percent. Its stock was little changed. Dell Inc. sank 7 percent in pre-market trading as the second-largest personal-computer maker missed analysts’ sales estimates and cut its revenue forecast. Carlsberg, LSE In Europe, Carlsberg A/S sank 18 percent as the world’s fourth-largest brewer cut its profit forecast because of faltering sales in Russia. Deutsche Boerse AG lost 6.7 percent and London Stock Exchange Group Plc fell 5.1 percent after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France and Germany will propose a financial-transaction tax. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Sarkozy rejected an expansion of a 440 billion-euro ($633 billion) rescue fund yesterday and rebuffed calls for joint euro borrowing. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2 percent. Russia’s Micex Index added 0.9 percent, and India’s Sensex Index climbed 0.6 percent. Dell suppliers in Taiwan slid, helping to push the Taiex Index down 0.7 percent. Quanta Computer Inc. (2382) sank 4.3 percent and Compal Electronics Inc. (2324) dropped 4 percent. More Liquidity The franc climbed 1.2 percent against the dollar and 0.7 percent versus the euro. The SNB said it will expand banks’ sight deposits to 200 billion francs ($253 billion) from 120 billion francs. It will also continue to repurchase outstanding SNB bills and use foreign-exchange swap transactions. The yield on two-year Greek notes rose 51 basis points to 34.94 percent, driving the spread with benchmark German securities 50 basis points higher to 34.19 percentage points, the most since July 20. Portuguese two-year securities yielded 11.87 percent, up nine basis points from yesterday. The cost of insuring sovereign debt rose for the first day in five with the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps linked to 15 governments climbing 4 basis points to 280.5 basis points. Gasoline led gains in commodities, rising 1.6 percent to $2.90 a gallon. Crude advanced $1.30 to $87.95 a barrel in New York and copper jumped 0.9 percent in London. To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at Swallace6@bloomberg.net

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