By Adria Cimino July 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures swung between gains and losses, following a two-week rally that lifted the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its highest level since November, as investors awaited a report on new home sales. Citigroup Inc. climbed 2.2 percent in European trading, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest retailer, slipped 1 percent. Purchases of new homes probably rose in June to the highest level in four months, adding to evidence the housing slump that began in 2005 is stabilizing, economists said ahead of government data today. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in September fell less than 0.1 percent to 977.70 as of 10:12 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.1 percent to 9,067 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 0.1 percent to 1,598.50. “We’re at a crossroads,” said Virginie Robert, a Paris- based managing director at Raymond James Asset Management International, which oversees about $35 billion worldwide. “The focus has been on earnings and that’s why the market has been rising. Now, the optimism has to be validated with economic data.” U.S. stocks advanced on July 24, completing the steepest two-week rally for the Dow average since 2000, as companies from Caterpillar Inc. to 3M Co. reported earnings that beat estimates and a gain in home resales signaled the recession is easing. About 75 percent of S&P 500 companies have topped analysts’ estimates so far, with per-share earnings dropping 26 percent on average, according to Bloomberg data. Raising Estimates Wall Street firms lifted forecasts on S&P 500 companies 896 times in June and lowered 886, according to data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The last time analysts were bullish on a net basis was in April 2007, before more than $1.5 trillion of bank losses tied to subprime loans spurred the first global recession since World War II, the data show. Sales of new homes increased 2.9 percent to a 352,000 pace, according to the median forecast of 60 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of a government report scheduled for 10 a.m. in Washington. Purchases reached a record-low 329,000 pace in January. Verizon Communications Inc., the second-biggest U.S. telephone company after AT&T Inc., and Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, are among companies scheduled to report earnings today. Citigroup climbed 2.2 percent to $2.79 in Germany. The stock may rise to $4 within the next year as the economy improves and its global banking business grows, Barron’s reported, citing John McDonald, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. Wal-Mart slipped 1 percent to $48.47. The company plans to sell 100 billion yen ($1.05 billion) of samurai bonds on July 29, according to a banker with direct knowledge of the matter. The S&P 500 has erased more than half its loss since the Sept. 15 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The benchmark index for U.S. equities has climbed 45 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 after the nation’s largest banks were profitable at the start the year and the government and Federal Reserve pledged $12.8 trillion to revive growth. To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.

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