Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose, with shares of electronics makers Flextronics International Ltd. and Broadcom Corp. advancing in Europe.

InfoSpace Inc. climbed in Germany after saying first-quarter sales will beat analysts' estimates.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring March gained 1.9 to 1144.5 as of 10:33 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 23 to 10,611 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures climbed 4.5 to 1524.5.

The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq Composite Index have added more than 10 percent in three months as investors bet economic growth would boost profits. Companies including Time Warner Inc., Altria Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co. will show if that's happening when they report earnings today. Economic reports such as demand for so-called durable goods will help show the strength of the economy.

``The economy will keep underpinning stock gains for some time as it helps demand,'' said Xavier Feu, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.9 billion at CEP Gestora SA in Barcelona, Spain. ``I am buying more equities. I expect short-term declines in the market because some shares have climbed too fast.'' He declined to comment which stocks he's adding to his portfolio.

U.S. stocks dropped yesterday after a smaller-than-expected gain in consumer confidence and sales and profit forecasts from Texas Instruments Inc. and Novellus Systems Inc. disappointed investors. Later today, the Federal Reserve comments on the state of the economy and might indicate when interest rates may rise.

Electronics Makers Gain

Flextronics rose 87 cents to $17.94 in Germany. The electronics manufacturer said profit excluding some costs will be 9 cents to 11 cents a share in the current quarter. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is 8 cents.

Broadcom, a maker of chips for consumer electronics and computer networks, climbed $2.86 to $43.46 in Germany after reporting its first quarterly profit in three years. Fourth- quarter net income was $6.08 million, compared with a $1.76 billion net loss a year earlier, Broadcom said yesterday. Revenue rose 62 percent.

InfoSpace Inc. jumped $4.78, or 19 percent, to $29.59. The maker of software for wireless devices and Internet searches said yesterday that first-quarter sales will be as much as $47 million. That's more than the $36.8 million average analyst estimate in a Thomson survey.

Video Games Decline

Electronic Arts Inc., the largest U.S. video-games maker, fell $2.76 to $45.77 in Germany. Profit in the fourth quarter ending March 31 will be 17 cents to 20 cents a share, it said yesterday after the close of U.S. trading. Analysts on average expected 25 cents, according to Thomson Financial. Sales will rise to $550 million, compared with a $570.2 million estimate.

Atari Inc., a maker of video games including ``Enter the Matrix,'' shed $1.12 to $3.15 in Germany. Fiscal third-quarter net income was about $20.5 million to $22.5 million rather than the $28 million to $36 million it projected, the company said after U.S. markets closed.

Sony Corp., the world's second-largest consumer-electronics maker, said today third-quarter net income fell 26 percent, in part because revenue from its PlayStation 2 games console shrank.

``For some industries the picture still looks bad,'' Feu said.

Amazon.com Inc. lost $2.24 to $53.50 in Germany. Fourth- quarter net income increased to 17 cents a share from 1 cent a year earlier. Earnings excluding certain costs matched analysts estimates after beating them each quarter for the past two years.

Cosine Communications Inc. fell 52 cents to $9.81. The maker of equipment used to protect corporate telecommunications networks from hackers said it is delaying its fourth-quarter and 2003 results until an audit is completed. It expects to release the results by Feb. 17.

The Federal Reserve will comment today on the state of the U.S. economy and may give investors signals of how soon interest rates in the world's largest economy may rise. The report is due at 2:15 p.m. Washington time.

None of the 86 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast an increase in the benchmark overnight bank lending rate from the current 1 percent, a 45-year low, at today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Among economic reports scheduled for today, the Commerce Department may say at 10 a.m. in Washington that U.S. sales of new houses increased in December for the first time in four months, completing a record year as mortgage rates held close to a 45-year low, according to a survey of economists.

New homes may have sold at a 1.1 million annual rate last month, 1.7 percent more than in November and the first rise since August, according to the median estimate of 57 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Also today, the Commerce Department may report that factory orders for goods made to last at least three years rose 2 percent in December, led by computer equipment, appliances and machinery, according to a survey of economists. The gain would be the third in four months and would follow a 2.5 percent fall in November. The report is set for 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

Last Updated: January 28, 2004 05:33 EST