U.S. stock index futures climbed on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced a faster wind-down of its pandemic-era stimulus, calming some nerves around surging price pressures. The U.S. central bank said on Wednesday it would end its bond purchases in March and signaled three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy no longer needed increasing amounts of policy support as annual inflation has been running at more than double the central bank’s target in recent months, while the economy nears full employment. Recent readings on surging producer and consumer prices as well as the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus have fueled anxiety as the benchmark S&P 500 inches closer to a record high. “Is the Santa Rally finally here? Markets certainly seem to have a spring in their step … the prospect of three interest rate hikes in 2022 …