By Sarah Jones June 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s biggest two-day drop since March 2009, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the recovery is intact, offsetting Europe’s worsening debt crisis. Alcoa Inc., the country’s largest aluminum producer, and Exxon Mobil Corp. advanced in Germany after Bernanke said the economic recovery is moving at a “moderate pace.” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slipped 0.4 percent as Fitch Ratings warned that the scale of the U.K.’s fiscal challenge is “formidable,” fueling concern that the sovereign debt crisis that started in Greece is spreading. S&P 500 futures expiring in June rose 0.3 percent to 1,051.00 at 12:31 p.m. in London, after earlier falling as much as 0.2 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.3 percent to 9,823, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures advanced 0.3 percent to 1,800.25. Bernanke’s comments “have given investors an opportunity to bargain-hunt on hopes of a more sustained rally,” said London-based market strategist David Morrison at GFT. “But the euro has begun to retreat again which will unnerve investors. Equities are looking vulnerable to further selling.” High Unemployment Speaking at an event in Washington last night, Bernanke said the recovery is moderate given the depth of the recession, and the unemployment rate is likely to remain “high” for a while. Both the euro and the pound declined today as Fitch said the U.K. needs to accelerate plans to reduce its budget deficit. The warning came one day after Prime Minister David Cameron told Britons to expect years of spending cuts, while the European Union pledged tougher sanctions on governments that break deficit rules. A credit rating downgrade for the U.K. is “coming,” Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, said in an interview today on Bloomberg Radio. The S&P 500 yesterday tumbled for a second day, closing at the lowest level since Nov. 4, as Google Inc. and Apple Inc. led a drop in technology shares and Goldman was subpoenaed in the financial-crisis investigation. Alcoa increased 1 percent to $10.61 in Germany, while Exxon, the biggest U.S. energy company, added 0.3 percent to $59.50. Goldman Sachs fell 0.4 percent to $138.14 in Germany. The stock tumbled 2.5 percent yesterday in New York after the bank was subpoenaed by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission as panel members said the firm engaged in a document “dump” to hinder a probe. Corning Inc. climbed 1 percent to $16.16 in Germany after Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. raised its recommendation for the world’s biggest maker of glass for flat-panel televisions to “outperform” from “market perform.” To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.

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