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By Bloomberg

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating equities will resume gains after Wednesday’s decline.

Contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in March added 0.5 percent to 2,040.5 at 10:44 a.m. in London. The underlying index closed lower, after the biggest two-day rally in almost a month, as the European Central Bank tightened its rules on lending to Greek banks, and oil retreated. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 77 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,645 today.

The S&P 500 in January posted its worst month in a year amid concern that slowing growth overseas will hurt the U.S. economy, while crude oil tumbled and the dollar strengthened.

“The U.S. market lagged Europe at the beginning of the year, but in the last days there has been a catch up driven by good figures,” said Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP Paribas Fortis in Brussels. “Earnings have been favorable, and the market is now probably anticipating good numbers for tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls.”

News Corp., Symantec Corp. and Philip Morris International Inc. are among 28 companies reporting quarterly results today. About 78 percent of S&P 500 members that have posted results this season have beaten analyst estimates, while 55 percent have topped sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Investors will also look to economic data for indications of the strength of the U.S. recovery. A report at 8:30 a.m. New York time will show initial jobless claims increased last week, according to analyst forecasts.

Payroll Data

Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department is predicted to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 230,000 last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 5.6 percent.

Twitter Inc. rose 3.1 percent in premarket New York trading as people with knowledge of the matter said it struck a deal with Google Inc. to facilitate easier online searches for its 140-character updates.

Gilead Sciences Inc. gained 1.1 percent. Shares slid on Wednesday after the world’s biggest biotechnology company forecast 2015 revenue that will be weighed down by discounts for its blockbuster hepatitis C drugs.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. fell 3.2 percent before the luxury-goods company posts quarterly results today.