US stock-index slightly rose amid debt ceiling talks

US stock-index futures gained a little, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index might extend a three-week high, as investors are focused on budget talk and corporate earnings.

S&P 500 futures expiring in December rose 0.1% to 1,705.9 at 12:04 a.m. in London. The benchmark index reached the highest close since Sept. 19 yesterday as Senate leaders expressed optimism that a deal can be made to end the partial government shutdown and prevent the U.S. from breaching the debt ceiling on Thursday. Future contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 33 points, or 0.2%, to 15,260 today.

“The broader market action has been quite solid over the last four sessions with investors clearly latching onto the idea a deal will be reached,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG, in a note to investors, cited by WSJ. “While we cannot forget that the Senate is not the House, and risks still remain the House votes down any Senate agreement, the bias has always been for a deal to be reached.”

A release at 13:30 a.m. London time may show manufacturing in the New York region expanded in October. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index climbed to 7, from 6.3 last month, according to the median forecast of 48 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

In corporate news, Citigroup is projected to post third-quarter earnings of $1.04 a share, according to a consensus survey of Thomson Reuters, but analysts expect revenue to fall.

Johnson & Johnson is expected to report third-quarter earnings of $1.32 a share.

Coca-Cola is projected to earn 53 cents a share in the third quarter.

Apple climbed 0.5% to $498.54. Ahrendts will leave Burberry, the U.K.’s largest luxury-goods maker, to become a senior vice president reporting to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook from spring 2014.

Microsoft, the maker of the Windows operating system, advanced 0.9% to $34.76 in early New York trading. Jefferies upgraded the software company to “buy” from “hold” and increased its price estimate for the shares to $42 from $33.