U.S. stock-index futures rose, with equities set to complete the fifth year of a rally that has sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index 181 percent higher, as investors awaited data that may show jobless claims fell last week. Sangamo Biosciences Inc. jumped 22 percent in early New York trading after saying its experimental treatment lowered the amount of HIV in some AIDS patients. Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. climbed 5.2 percent after getting regulatory approval for manufacturing stem-cell therapy products. Costco Wholesale Corp. slipped 2.7 percent in German trading after posting fiscal second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month gained 0.2 percent to 1,875.7 at 7:12 a.m. in New York. The equity gauge has surged 181 percent from its intraday low of 666.79 on March 6, 2009 as the Federal Reserve provided three rounds of monetary stimulus and corporate earnings rebounded. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,385 today. “The economic recovery in the U.S. is certainly on track, although subdued,� Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Plc in London, wrote in an e-mail. “The latest set of economic data provides an opportunity to bolster markets which are testing new highs, particularly after tensions between Russia and Ukraine seem to have become political rather than military.� Jobless Benefits A Labor Department report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show first-time claims for jobless benefits slipped to 336,000 in the week ended March 1, after climbing to 348,000 in the prior period, economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. A separate report may show that factory orders dropped 0.5 percent in January after declining 1.5 percent in December, according to the projections. U.S. and European leaders intensified diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, after Russia’s foreign minister evaded a U.S. attempt to get him to talk to his counterpart in Kiev. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will take part in a European Union meeting to consider the next steps. The crisis erupted after pro-Russian forces took control of Ukraine’s Crimea region, following the departure of Viktor Yanukovych as the country’s president. Sangamo jumped 22 percent to $24. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers led by Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania infused 12 patients with the company’s SB-728-T, an experimental treatment that changes CCR5. The trial found that the treatment was associated with a drop in the amount of virus in some patients who were taken off their regular anti-AIDS drugs. Pluristem rose 5.2 percent to $4.27. The Food and Drug Administration gave its approval for the company to manufacture placenta-based cell therapies at its new production unit. Costco Wholesale (COST) slipped 2.7 percent to $113.38 in German trading. The largest U.S. warehouse-club chain said net income in the quarter ended Feb. 16 fell 15 percent to $1.05 a share from $1.24 a year earlier. Analysts projected profit of $1.17, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Morgan in Frankfurt at jmorgan157@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net

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