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By Bloomberg

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating equities will gain for a fifth day, after confidence that central banks will support the global economic recovery sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a three-week high.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March added 0.3 percent to 2,061.5 at 7:42 a.m. in New York. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,782. U.S. stocks rose for a fourth day on Thursday as the European Central Bank expanded an asset-purchase program to include government bonds. Banks and transportation companies also pushed benchmark gauges higher on better-than-forecast earnings.

“Yesterday’s reaction to the ECB was very strong, so it only makes sense for markets to take time to digest the implications of new policies,” said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, a strategist at Deutsche Postbank AG in Bonn. “Money from the ECB will push stocks higher -- investors can be confident that liquidity is here to stay. People are turning more positive on Europe, and more optimistic regarding global economic growth.”

The S&P 500 has gained 2.2 percent this week, erasing its losses for the year, as ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank plans to buy up to 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of private and public securities a month, spurring optimism that the move will fill some of the gap left since the Federal Reserve wound down its bond-buying program last year.

The S&P 500 is trading at about 17 times the projected earnings of its members, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Valuations reached a five-year high at the end of last year. A majority of those surveyed in a Bloomberg poll forecast that the S&P 500 will rise in the next six months, while only a quarter see it declining.

Earnings Reports

Eight companies listed on the S&P 500 post results Friday. Of the 82 companies that have reported quarterly earnings so far, 79 percent have exceeded projections after analysts reduced their estimates. Profit at S&P 500 companies climbed 0.8 percent in the last three months of 2014, analysts predict, down from an October estimate of 8.1 percent.

Among stocks moving on corporate news, Starbucks Corp. advanced 4.7 percent in premarket New York trading after late Thursday reporting a higher-than-expected increase in first- quarter comparable sales.

General Electric Co. rose 1.3 percent after posting fourth- quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as the company boosted sales in its power and water business, blunting the impact of falling oil prices.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. gained 2.3 percent in Germany after its quarterly sales and profit forecasts exceeded some analysts’ forecasts.

Altera Corp. fell 4.5 percent in Germany as its projections for first-quarter sales and profitability missed estimates.

Preliminary data on American manufacturing at 9:45 a.m. New York time may provide further clues about the recovery in the world’s largest economy. Output probably expanded at a faster pace this month, economists predicted. A separate report will probably show sales of existing homes increased in December.