U.S stock futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will extend its rally for the week, as expansion in U.S. industrial purchases offset weaker- than-forecast consumer spending.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) advanced 1.5 percent and Citigroup Inc. (C) added 1 percent to lead banks higher. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Target Corp. (TGT) rose at least 0.9 percent, pacing gains among the largest companies. Rambus Inc. rose 19 percent as the designer of high-speed memory chips settled patent disputes with Broadcom Corp.

S&P 500 futures expiring in March increased 0.4 percent to 1,254 at 8:41 a.m. New York time. The benchmark gauge advanced 0.8 percent to a two-week high yesterday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 34 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,137 today.

“There has been heated debate of late about the strength of the U.S. economy going into 2012,” said Ioan Smith, a director at Knight Capital Europe Ltd. in London. “Continued growth in the U.S. will likely depend on a number of factors, including the global macro environment, the oil price and potential consumer retrenchment.”

A three-day rally in the S&P 500 has trimmed the index’s decline for the year to 0.3 percent. The gauge is up 2.8 percent this week after data on employment, consumer confidence, housing starts and leading economic indicators added to expectations that the U.S. economy can weather Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.

Economic Data

Consumer spending rose 0.1 percent in November, compared with the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists of a 0.3 percent advance. Incomes also grew 0.1 percent, the weakest in three months, after a 0.4 percent rise in October.

Orders for U.S. durable goods rose in November by 3.8 percent, the most in four months, data from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. An increase in demand for aircraft outweighed declines in spending on computers and equipment. Economists had predicted a 2.2 percent rise, a Bloomberg survey showed.

A release today is expected to show new home sales increased to an annual rate of 315,000, according to the median economist forecasts in Bloomberg surveys.

Stocks rose yesterday as the number of applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest since April 2008. Confidence among U.S. consumers rose more than forecast in December, to a six-month high. The index of U.S. leading indicators climbed more than estimated in November.

Payroll-Tax Cut

House Speaker John Boehner agreed to extend a U.S. payroll- tax cut past its Dec. 31 expiration, backing down under pressure from Senate Republicans and President Barack Obama.

The agreement late yesterday capped a month of wrangling that led to a revolt by House Republicans over a two-month bipartisan deal passed by the Senate on Dec. 17 in an 89-10 vote. Amid polling that showed Republicans losing ground politically during the standoff, Obama and Senate Republicans urged Boehner to bring his caucus to agreement.

Bank of America rose 1.5 percent to $5.55. Citigroup advanced 1 percent to $27.93. Amazon.com increased 0.9 percent to $180.60, while Target rallied 1.9 percent to $52.26.

Rambus (RMBS) jumped 19 percent to $8.68. The agreement with Irvine, California-based Broadcom ends all litigation, including claims related to Broadcom’s alleged past use of patented Rambus technology. The license runs for five years, with undisclosed financial terms, Rambus said in a statement.