U.S. stock futures rose, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record yesterday, as data showed the economy expanded faster than estimated in the third quarter and the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut a key interest rate. J.C. Penney Co. jumped 4.3 percent after posting its first rise in monthly same-store sales in two years. Qualcomm Inc. dropped 4.1 percent after the largest maker of smartphone chips predicted quarterly sales that missed analysts’ estimates. Whole Foods Market Inc. slumped 9.1 percent after cutting its profit forecast. Twitter Inc., which raised $1.82 billion in its initial public offering, begins trading today in New York. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring next month rose 0.4 percent to 1,772.9 at 8:37 a.m. in New York. The Dow average climbed to a record yesterday and the S&P 500 closed at a one-week high as Federal Reserve officials said economic weakness warrants continued stimulus from the central bank. Contracts on the Dow added 85 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,768 today. The economy in the U.S. expanded in the third quarter at a faster pace than forecast, led by the biggest increase in inventories in more than a year as household purchases and business investment slowed. Gross domestic product rose at a 2.8 percent annualized rate after a 2.5 percent gain the prior three months, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 2 percent advance. Consumer spending climbed 1.5 percent, the smallest increase since 2011. Economic Data Investors are watching U.S. data to gauge the health of the world’s largest economy after the Fed said last week it needs to see more evidence of sustained improvement before slowing its $85 billion monthly asset purchases. Jobless claims decreased by 9,000 to 336,000 in the week ended Nov. 2 from 345,000 the prior period, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. Labor Department figures tomorrow may show payrolls rose by 120,000 workers last month after a 148,000 gain in September, while the jobless rate rose to 7.3 percent. Fed officials have repeated in every policy statement since December that their target interest rate will remain near zero at least as long as unemployment exceeds 6.5 percent, so long as the outlook for inflation is no higher than 2.5 percent. Fed Bank of New York President William C. Dudley is scheduled to speak at an economic policy forum from 1:30 p.m. in New York. ECB Rates The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low after a drop in inflation to the slowest pace in four years threatened its mission to keep prices stable. ECB President Mario Draghi lowered the benchmark interest rate to 0.25 percent from 0.5 percent, using one of his remaining interest-rate cuts to bolster the economy. The ECB now has just one more quarter-point cut left before reaching zero, increasing the likelihood of unconventional tools such as quantitative easing or a negative deposit rate if prices slow further or the economic recovery stalls. Euro-area inflation is less than half the ECB’s target and unemployment is at the highest level since the currency bloc was formed in 1999. Earnings Season Walt Disney Co. and Priceline.com Inc. are among S&P 500 members posting results today. Of the 440 companies in the gauge that have reported earnings so far, 74 percent have beaten analysts’ profit forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Income for the broad index probably increased 4.1 percent in the third quarter, and 6.8 percent in the final three months of the year, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. J.C. Penney jumped 4.3 percent to $8.03. The retailer’s comparable-store sales climbed 0.9 percent in October, the first increase since December 2011. American Eagle Outfitters Inc. rallied 11 percent to $16.25 after saying third-quarter earnings probably fell to 19 cents a share, exceeding its August projection for as much as 16 cents a share. The teen-clothing chain cited better-than-estimated margins for the period. Transocean, Qualcomm Transocean Ltd. jumped 4.5 percent to $51.25. The dual-listed offshore drilling contractor, which replaced Dell Inc. in the S&P 500 last month, posted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.37 per share, beating the $1.07 average analyst estimate. Qualcomm dropped 4.1 percent to $66.87. Sales for the three months ending in December will be $6.3 billion to $6.9 billion, the company said yesterday in a statement. Analysts on average had predicted revenue of $7.01 billion for the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Whole Foods, the largest natural-foods grocer in the U.S., lost 9.1 percent to $58.60. Profit excluding certain items will be as much as $1.69 a share in the year ending in September 2014, compared with a previous projection of as much as $1.72 and the average analyst estimate of $1.73 a share. SolarCity Corp. (SCTY) tumbled 8.1 percent to $54.80. The second-largest U.S. solar company predicted a loss of as much as 65 cents a share for the final three months of 2013, compared with the average analyst estimate of 54 cents a share. Twitter, whose website and applications let people post 140-character messages to online followers, yesterday sold 70 million shares at $26 each, putting the microblogging service at 12.4 times estimated 2014 sales of $1.14 billion, according to analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in London at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

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