US stock index futures rose after Fed’s Chairman statement

Future contracts on US stock indexes jumped after the support of Feds Chairman Bernanke to the stimulus program. The head of Federal Bank explained that recent improvement in jobs data is not sufficient argument to taper the $85 billion bond-purchasing program. The government is still awaiting more significant positive changes in economy.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September remained close to zero change with a minimal advance of 0.02% to 1652.62 at 7:06 a.m. in New York. The S&P 500 closed little changed yesterday as investors analyzed the minutes from the Fed’s last meeting for signs of when the central bank will scale back the pace of its bond-buying program. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 132 points, or 0.02%, to 15291.7 today.

“The Fed is emphasizing that policy is going to remain accommodative in the near term,” said Tim Gibbens, an investment manager at Alliance Trust Plc, by phone for Bloomberg. “It’s a highly flexible and data-dependent stance which can mean that bond purchases won’t necessarily stop this year. They’re trying to manage market expectations after being surprised at the reaction after May.”

According to Bloomberg survey, a report from the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. EDT today will probably show that jobless claims slipped last week. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to 340,000 from 343,000.

Meanwhile in Europe, stocks advanced to a five-week high after Feds opinion on stimulus. FTSE 100 and Dax both surged by 0.47% and 1.03%, respectively at 12:23 pm London time. The Stoxx 600 benchmark increased 0.57% to 296.51 at 12:30 a.m. in London.

Hays Plc, the human resource service provider rose 5.1% after saying its fiscal fourth-quarter total net fees increased 3%.

Renault SA retreated 2.2% after Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded the shares to “under-perform”, similar to a “sell” recommendation, from market perform. France’s second-biggest car-maker faces slowing demand in Brazil, India, Russia and Turkey. Bernstein also said the car-maker’s performance was weaker in Europe than expected.