U.S. stock futures rose, signaling equities may extend a record, amid continued investor optimism that interest rates will remain low even as the world’s biggest economy is strengthening. Yahoo! Inc. climbed 0.6 percent after selling shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as part of the e-commerce company’s initial public offering. Concur Technologies Inc. surged 20 percent after SAP SE agreed to buy the company for about $7.4 billion. Oracle Corp. fell 3 percent after saying Larry Ellison will step down as chief executive officer. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December advanced 0.2 percent to 2,008.8 at 8:03 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts added 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,235. “Markets are in a risk-on mode because the Fed’s still having a positive impact,� Louis de Fels, a Paris-based fund manager at Raymond James Financial Inc., which oversees about $53 billion, said by telephone. “They kept the phrase that they’ll keep rates low for a ‘considerable time.’ That reassured the markets. When tapering is finished, when we have no more inflow of money, we will reach the top in U.S. markets, but you still have a few weeks of good U.S. markets.� U.S. futures followed European shares higher, as U.K. shares rallied and the pound strengthened after Scotland voters rejected independence. The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent and the Dow gained 0.6 percent yesterday to respective all-time highs as a report showed fewer Americans filed for jobless claims in the period ended Sept. 13. The broader index has climbed 1.3 percent this week as the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time� after its bond-buying program ends, probably next month. Leading Indicator A report at 10 a.m. in Washington may show that a gauge of the U.S. outlook for the next three to six months rose at a slower pace in August. The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators climbed 0.4 percent, following a 0.9 percent increase in July, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Yahoo advanced 0.6 percent to $42.32 after Alibaba raised $21.8 billion in a U.S. IPO. Alibaba, Yahoo and other shareholders sold 320.1 million shares for $68 each, according to a statement. Concur Technologies jumped 20 percent to $129 after SAP agreed to pay $129 a share for the cloud-software company that manages corporate travel and expenses. That’s 28 percent more than stock’s Sept. 2 close, the day before Bloomberg reported the two companies are exploring a sale. The purchase will be funded from a credit line of as much as 7 billion euros ($9 billion), SAP said. AMD Rises Advanced Micro Devices Inc. gained 1.8 percent to $3.95 in early New York trading after the chipmaker signed a multi-year agreement with Synopsys Inc. that gives each access to the other’s technologies. Oracle lost 3 percent to $40.32 in premarket trading after saying Mark Hurd and Safra Catz will take over as joint CEOs from Ellison, who led the company for more than 35 years. The software maker also reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $8.6 billion and profit before some items of 62 cents a share. That missed the projections of analysts calling for sales of $8.78 billion and earnings of 64 cents. To contact the reporter on this story: Namitha Jagadeesh in London at njagadeesh@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net Jeremy Herron, Alan Soughley

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