U.S. Stock-Index Futures Gain; S&P 500 Contract Climbs 0.2%

By Daniel Hauck

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures gained, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may climb for the first time in four days, as signs that mergers and acquisitions will increase offset lower oil and metals prices.

S&P 500 futures expiring in December gained 0.2 percent at 6:32 a.m. in New York after earlier falling as much as 0.5 percent. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.2 percent.

Abbott Laboratories advanced in German trading after agreeing to purchase Solvay SA’s pharmaceutical unit for about 4.8 billion euros ($7.1 billion). Futures extended gains after Xerox Corp. said it agreed to buy Affiliated Computer Services Inc. for $6.4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Hauck in London at dhauck1@bloomberg.net