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By Bloomberg

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will climb further, after the Federal Reserve spurred its biggest two-day jump in three years.

Contracts on the S&P 500 expiring in March added 0.3 percent to 2,065 at 7:29 a.m. in New York. They pared gains to 0.1 percent about an hour ago and climbed as much as 0.7 percent earlier. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased 45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,771.

The S&P 500 rallied 4.5 percent in the past two days as energy shares advanced and Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank will probably hold rates near zero at least through the first quarter. The benchmark index has recovered almost all its December losses and is now heading for its biggest weekly jump since October, up 2.9 percent.

“Risk-aversion has finally come down, and central banks are certainly supportive,” said Alessandro Bee, a strategist at Bank J Safra Sarasin AG in 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. But with this priced in, as well as a strengthening U.S. economy, the strong surge in U.S. markets can leave them vulnerable.”

Some futures and options on stocks and indexes are expiring today in a process known as quadruple witching. That often increases volatility and trading volume.

Following the Fed’s pledge to be patient on the timing of interest-rate increases, the Bank of Japan held monetary policy steady today, almost two months after boosting stimulus as Asia’s second-largest economy slumped into a recession. In Europe, almost all economists project the central bank will announce the purchase of large-scale government bonds next year.

Fed Stimulus

U.S. stocks have tripled during the 5 1/2-year bull market, driven by the Fed’s three rounds of bond buying and borrowing costs near zero to stimulate the economy. A slide in oil prices and signs of a global economic slowdown rippled through financial markets earlier this month, wiping more than $1 trillion from U.S. equity values in less than two weeks.

The rebound in equities may help push the S&P 500 to its seventh consecutive December rally, as investor anxiety is fading. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the gauge of options prices known as the VIX, slumped 29 percent in the past two days for the biggest slide since January 2013.

Some companies are rising on merger-and-acquisitions activity. Xerox Corp. gained 4 percent in early U.S. trading after Atos agreed to buy its information-technology outsourcing business for $1.05 billion.

American Apparel

American Apparel Inc. climbed 4 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.

Red Hat Inc. rallied 9.1 percent in German trading and Cintas Corp. rose 5.7 percent after posting quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. The uniform-supply company also increased its annual profit forecast.

Nike Inc. slipped 2.7 percent in New York after future orders for the world’s largest sporting-goods maker rose less than analysts had predicted. Demand in western Europe and emerging markets slowed for the delivery period from December through April.