Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent before reports on U.S. personal spending, business activity and consumer confidence. Spending probably increased in April for a seventh consecutive month as incomes improved, economists said before a report due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

Other data today may show the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc.’s business barometer, due at 9:45 a.m., fell to 61 from a five-year high of 63.8 in April. At 9:55 a.m., a report from Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan may show its consumer sentiment index climbed to 73.3 this month from 72.2 in April.

Crude oil for July delivery gained 1.1 percent to $75.35 a barrel in New York trading. Copper for delivery in three months was 0.4 percent higher at $7,015 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. Aluminum and zinc also rose. Gold for immediate delivery added 0.2 percent to $1,214.45 an ounce, rising for a fifth consecutive day.

Government bonds rose, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling four basis points to 3.32 percent. The yield on the German bund, Europe’s benchmark government security, dropped three basis points to 2.68 percent.

The cost of protecting against a default on European corporate bonds fell, with the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of credit-default swaps on 50 mostly junk-rated companies declining 14.75 basis points to 545.5, according to Markit Group Ltd. Contracts tied to Greece’s government debt dropped 15.5 basis points to 670.5, after climbing as high as 941 on May 6 at the height of the country’s debt crisis, CMA DataVision prices show.

Credit markets froze this month, with global companies selling the smallest amount of bonds in a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Borrowers issued $61.1 billion of notes in currencies from dollars to yen, a third of April’s tally and the least since December 2000. The extra yield investors demand to hold the securities instead of benchmark government debt widened 44 basis points to 193, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show, the biggest increase since the aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse.

Posted by Shayne Heffernan on May 28th, 2010and filed underEquities, Latest News, Markets, USA.You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site