U.S. stock-index futures climbed, indicating that equity benchmarks will extend a rally that has already produced the biggest two-day gains since April.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped 58 percent in early New York trading after a clinical trial met its primary goal.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring in September gained 0.3 percent to 1,937.8 at 6:08 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts added 40 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,555 today.
The S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent in the past two trading days as reports indicated that Russia wanted to de-escalate the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the Kremlin had ended military exercises near the border with its neighbor.
“Investors are learning to live with some of the uncertainties from geopolitical events,” said Peter Dixon, a global equities economist at Commerzbank AG in London.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said a proposed aid convoy will take days to reach Ukraine, Itar-Tass reported today. The U.S., the European Union and NATO warned President Vladimir Putin yesterday against using the mission as a pretext for military intervention in support of the separatists.
“The VIX, which had spiked sharply over the last few weeks, is beginning to come off,” Dixon said. “This tells me that while investors were concerned about geopolitical events towards the back end of July, they’re beginning to factor them in. We’re in the dog days of summer, so we’re probably in a pause phase in the markets.”
