U.S. stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from the lowest level since December, as FedEx Corp. (FDX)’s profit forecast beat estimates and investors bet the Group of Seven nations will move to calm markets after Japan’s earthquake. FedEx, which runs the world’s biggest cargo airline and is considered a proxy for economic growth, rallied 4.4 percent. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) gained 1 percent. Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) gained 2.2 percent after the largest producer of mobile-phone chips said it sees limited impact from the Japanese disaster and JPMorgan Chase & Co. advised buying the shares. S&P 500 futures expiring in June gained 0.9 percent to 1,265.10 at 8:07 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 69 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,647. “Equities will be supported,” Robert Marquardt, chairman and co-head of investment management at Signet Group, which manages or advises about $1.7 billion for institutional and private clients, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Following this crisis, central banks will probably go back on hold. This means liquidity stays on the table a little longer.” The S&P 500 slumped 3.6 percent during the past three days after a 9-magnitude earthquake, Japan’s biggest tremor on record, struck the northeast part of the country on March 11. The gauge lost 6.4 percent from this year’s highest closing level on Feb. 18 as concern mounted that higher oil prices prompted by Middle East unrest will curb global economic growth. Mildly Oversold The monthlong slide in stocks has left both developed and emerging market equities “mildly oversold,” according to Citigroup Inc. global strategist Robert Buckland. “Perhaps ongoing fears about events in the Middle East and Japan will provide the impetus for global equities to get even more oversold,” he wrote in a report. “But, unless these events have a meaningful impact upon the global economy (and therefore global earnings-per-share), which we do not think they will, then a further sell-off would offer an opportunity for us to get more bullish. The best time to take risk on is when others want to take it off.” In Japan, the Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average slid 1.4 percent after losing as much as 5 percent. G-7 finance chiefs will hold talks on financial markets and Japan’s economy tomorrow, after the earthquake triggered a selloff in global stocks and drove the nation’s currency to a post World War II high. Fukushima Power Plant Workers at Japan’s tsunami-struck Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant plan to connect a power line to restart damaged cooling systems later today. They also intend to spray water on a damaged reactor from a cannon used by the police for riot control, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. Helicopters doused 30 metric tons of water on pools used to cool spent fuel rods without producing a drop in radiation levels, Kyodo News said. U.S. industrial production probably rose in February for a third month in the last four, economists said before a Federal Reserve report due at 9:15 a.m. in Washington today. At 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department may report that the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in February for the third consecutive month, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Economists’ estimates ranged from 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent. Groupon Inc. has held talks with banks about an initial public offering that would value the group-buying company at as much as $25 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. FedEx FedEx rallied 4.4 percent to $89. Per-share earnings for the quarter ending May 31 will be $1.66 to $1.83 a share, the company said. Analysts projected $1.66, the average of 22 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Bank of America rose 1 percent to $13.83. Qualcomm jumped 2.2 percent to $51.61. The largest producer of mobile-phone chips said it expects last week’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami to have a limited effect on its supplies. “Qualcomm has multiple, geographically diverse sources for supply as well as production processes specifically designed to enable us to mitigate disruptions in our supply chain,” the San Diego-based company said yesterday in a statement. Separately, JPMorgan advised buying the shares. To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net; Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net

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