U.S. equity-index futures (SPX) climbed and crude advanced amid efforts by central banks to support growth. The yen weakened, U.K. government bonds extended a weekly decline and the ruble strengthened. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.2 percent at 11:28 a.m. in London. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.2 percent. Oil gained 1.3 percent in New York. The yield on 10-year gilts rose one basis point to 1.88 percent. The ruble strengthened to 60.16 per dollar and Japan’s currency declined against all but one of its 16 major peers. Wheat dropped 1.8 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index is heading for its biggest weekly advance since the end of October after the Federal Reserve pledged patience on raising U.S. interest rates and Switzerland’s central bank introduced negative deposit rates. The Bank of Japan held monetary policy steady today, almost two months after unexpectedly boosting stimulus. French President Francois Hollande became the first major European leader to suggest easing sanctions on Russia, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the region is united in its stance. “Risk-aversion has finally come down, and central banks are certainly supportive,� Alessandro Bee, a strategist at Bank J Safra Sarasin AG, said by phone from Zurich. “You have those that are ready to ease, like the ECB and the Bank of Japan, and you have the Fed, which is in no rush to tighten.� Fed Rally Fed Chair Janet Yellen said this week that policy makers are likely to hold key rates near zero at least through the first quarter, even as the U.S. economy strengthens. The central bank, in a statement after its last meeting of 2014, replaced a reference to borrowing costs staying low for a “considerable time� with a pledge to be patient on the timing. The S&P 500 surged 4.5 percent in the last two days, erasing four-fifths of the seven-day decline that began Dec. 5. The gauge pulled within 1 percent of its all-time high as Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway and Johnson & Johnson led the advance. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March rose today, indicating the index will climb for a third day. The gauge is heading for its biggest weekly gain in almost two months, up 2.9 percent. Should it continue, the recovery would mark the fifth time this year that the S&P 500 has come back after falling more than 4 percent from a high. In comparable drops beginning in January, April, July and September, the index needed about a month to erase losses, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Xerox Corp. gained 3 percent in early U.S. trading after Atos agreed to buy its information-technology outsourcing business for $1.05 billion. European Stocks American Apparel Inc. climbed 8 percent after an 82 percent jump in the past three days. A person familiar with the matter said founder Dov Charney is working with a private-equity firm on a bid to acquire the company. The retailer fired him earlier this week. Nike Inc. slipped 2.1 percent after future orders for the world’s largest sporting-goods maker rose less than analysts had predicted. Europe’s Stoxx 600 dropped, with health care, utilities and banking leading the decline. The index is heading for a five-day gain of 2.4 percent after its worst week in three years. Air France-KLM (AF) Group lost 8.3 percent after cutting its annual profit target and saying it would push back delivery of some aircraft in the next two years. BASF SE declined 2.5 percent after saying a plan to swap natural gas assets with OAO Gazprom has fallen through. Roche, Nike Roche Holding AG fell 5.3 percent after reporting disappointing results from a drug-combination trial of breast-cancer treatments. MorphoSys AG sank 8 percent after Roche ended a drug trial for Alzheimer’s disease. Emerging-market stocks rose for a third day, erasing a weekly loss. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 1.7 percent to a four-year high amid optimism the plunge in oil price will cut the energy costs of airlines and shipping companies. The Chinese equity benchmark is heading for a sixth weekly gain. Samsung Electronics Co. jumped the most in three weeks after saying it may increase its dividend by as much as 50 percent. That helped the Kospi Index rally the most since October. Russia’s benchmark Micex Index slid 2.3 percent, heading for a weekly retreat. The dollar-denominated RTS Index was poised for a fourth weekly loss. Oil Pares West Texas Intermediate oil climbed to $54.49 a barrel in New York, after sinking to the lowest closing price since May 2009 yesterday. The U.S. benchmark is still down 45 percent this year. Brent crude rose 0.9 percent to $59.82 a barrel in London. Gold dropped 0.1 percent to $1,197 an ounce on the spot market after climbing 0.7 percent yesterday. The precious metal fell 2.2 percent this week. Industrial metals advanced, with zinc gaining 2 percent and lead rising 1 percent. The yield on 10-year is up eight basis points this week. The price of the 2.75 percent bond due in September 2024 fell 0.13, or 1.30 pounds per 1,000-pound ($1,566) face amount, to 107.655. The rate on France’s 10-year government bonds climbed one basis point to 0.9 percent and the yield on similar-maturity Treasuries increased was unchanged at 2.2 percent. Fixed-income assets around the world returned 7.4 percent this year, set for the best annual performance since 2002, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index. The dollar strengthened at least 4 percent against all of its 16 major counterparts in 2014. Ruble Recovers The yen depreciated 0.5 percent today to 119.45 per dollar after weakening 2 percent during the previous two days. Japan’s currency declined 0.3 percent to 146.45 per euro. The dollar was little changed at $1.2261 per euro. Japan’s two-year yield dropped to minus 0.04 percent while that on five-year bonds fell to a record 0.03 percent. The ruble strengthened 2.4 percent to 60.16 a dollar, paring a weekly decline. The currency has rebounded 33 percent from its record low of 80.10 a dollar reached Dec. 16 as as Russian President Vladimir Putin struck an uncompromising stance over the nation’s financial woes. The yield on 10-year Russian sovereign bond slipped 1 basis point to 13.71 percent. The yield has jumped 71 basis points this week. Wheat futures fell 1.9 percent to $6.4275 a bushel after climbing as much as 4.4 percent yesterday to the highest level since May. Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization in Rome, said yesterday there were ample global supplies amid concern that Russia may curb shipments because of rising domestic food prices. To contact the reporter on this story: James Herron in London at jherron9@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma O’Brien at eobrien6@bloomberg.net; Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net Nick Gentle

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