Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose. Dell Inc., the world's second-largest personal-computer maker, climbed in Europe after saying profit and sales this quarter will meet forecasts as businesses accelerate their spending.

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. advanced after people familiar with the situation said SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. are preparing an attempt to outbid Vodafone Group Plc for control of the company. ImClone Systems Inc. surged after its Erbitux colon-cancer medicine won U.S. regulators' approval.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in March rose 3 to 1154 as of 10:37 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 23 to 10,711 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures advanced 6 to 1506.50.

``Earnings are good, the economy will keep growing and mergers and acquisitions will heat up the market this year,'' said Sean Gallegos, who helps manage the equivalent of $11 billion at Gesmadrid SA in Spain and said he's buying equities.

The Dow is headed for its second weekly gain, helped after the Federal Reserve increased its economic growth forecast and Comcast Corp. made a hostile bid to buy Walt Disney Co. for $54.1 billion in stock, boosting optimism about a recovery in takeovers.

Dell added 53 cents to $34.10 in Germany. The company said after markets closed that fourth-quarter net income climbed 24 percent. Earnings per share will probably be 28 cents on sales of $11.2 billion in the first quarter, Dell said, as demand picks up and it sells more profitable computers.

AT&T Wireless, the third-biggest U.S. mobile-phone company, added 25 cents to $11.92 in Germany. SBC and BellSouth, owners of Cingular Wireless LLC, are likely to raise their informal offer of $11 a share, or $30 billion, for AT&T Wireless, people familiar with the situation said.

Vodafone may offer $12.50 a share, the Wall Street Journal reported, without saying where it got the information. The deadline for bids is 5 p.m. New York time.

ImClone surged $13.44, or 40 percent, to $47.44 in Germany. The drugmaker's Erbitux, the centerpiece of an insider-trading scandal involving company founder Sam Waksal, won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sales of the medicine as a treatment for advanced colon cancer may reach $500 million a year, analysts said.

Shares of ImClone had dropped 21 percent to $34 before the announcement was made on speculation that the drug would be rejected. Trading in ImClone was halted before the announcement and resumed at 4:21 p.m. in New York.

Analog Devices Inc. climbed $1.66 to $50.65 in Germany. The world's No. 4 maker of signal-processing semiconductors for mobile phones and electronic devices said first-quarter net income almost doubled to $116.8 million as industrial clients boosted orders.

Nvidia Corp. fell $1.75, or 7.4 percent, to $21.77. The world's biggest maker of computer-graphics chips said sales were $472.1 million in the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 25. That's less than the $482.3 million that 19 analysts had expected on average in a Thomson survey.

Michigan Index

Among economic reports scheduled for today, the University of Michigan will publish its preliminary monthly index of consumer sentiment. The measure that gauges prospects for spending probably was 103.0 in February, according to the median estimate of 50 economists polled by Bloomberg News. January's reading of 103.8 was the highest since November 2000.

The report is due for release at 9:50 a.m. New York time.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world's No. 3 gold miner, and Masco Corp. the maker of Delta faucets and Behr paints, are among companies scheduled to release quarterly earnings today. Barrick Gold added 8 cents to $20.91, and Masco didn't trade in Europe.

U.S. stocks fell for the first day in three yesterday, after a report showed the number of Americans filing jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week. The Dow fell 0.4 percent to 10,694.07, paring the weekly gain to about 1 percent. The S&P 500 lost 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 0.8 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 13, 2004 05:39 EST