Commodities advanced and stocks gained worldwide on speculation that government measures to revive economies and rescue financial firms are working. Copper rose to a five-month high and platinum reached a six-month peak. The MSCI World Index advanced 0.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average erased its 2009 decline as machinery orders in Japan unexpectedly climbed and the government prepared a $154 billion stimulus plan for the world’s second-largest economy. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.7 percent. The MSCI measure of 23 developed markets has rallied 22 percent since March 9 on speculation U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to finance the purchase of as much as $1 trillion of toxic assets will pull the global economy out of its first recession since World War II. The Bank of England today left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said it will keep buying government bonds. “There are a lot of hopes for these stimulus plans,” said Pablo Gonzalez, who helps manage the Gateway Natural Resources Ltd. fund that is part of Basel, Switzerland-based Gateway Capital Group. “The important thing is you need to see people starting to consume and the general feeling is that’s going to happen in the second half of the year.” Treasuries and European government bonds declined as gains in stocks eroded demand for the relative safety of fixed-income assets. The yen dropped as investors favored higher-yielding currencies amid a revival of risk appetite. Emerging-market bonds and stocks headed for their first five-week rallies in a year, while the cost of protecting European corporate bonds in the credit-default swaps market fell. Buying Treasuries Japan’s Nikkei average climbed 3.7 percent today after a document obtained by Bloomberg News said Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will propose a 15.4 trillion yen ($154 billion) stimulus for the world’s second-largest economy. The New York Times reported that all 19 U.S. banks that have been subject to government stress tests to determine their viability will pass the review. The S&P 500 yesterday trimmed its weekly decline to 2.1 percent as the Treasury said it may give Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to life insurers. Copper for delivery in three months gained as much as $130.75, or 3 percent, to $4,530.75 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, the highest compared with intraday prices since Oct. 30. Aluminum, zinc and lead also advanced. Platinum Gains Platinum for immediate delivery rose as much as $34.25, or 2.9 percent, to $1,213.75 an ounce, the highest since Sept. 25. Crude oil for May delivery rose $1.31, or 2.7 percent, to $50.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract advanced for a second day after a U.S. government report showed a smaller inventory gain compared with industry estimates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which slid to a record low of 2.04 percent on Dec. 18, rose as much as three basis points to 2.89 percent. The German 10-year bund yield added five basis points to 3.26 percent. U.K. gilts advanced for a third day as the Bank of England announced its first monetary policy decision since it began buying assets last month. The 10-year yield fell two basis points to 3.33 percent. Yields move inversely to bond prices. The bank left its benchmark rate at 0.5 percent, matching the forecast of all but two of the economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Yen Declines The yen fell as much as 0.8 percent to 133.53 per euro. Contracts on the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index of 45 companies with mostly high-risk, high-yield credit ratings decreased 10 basis points to 913, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. prices at 7:56 a.m. in London. The Markit iTraxx Europe index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings fell 3.5 basis points to 158, JPMorgan prices show. The indexes are benchmarks for the cost of protecting bonds against default and a decline signals an improvement in the perception of credit quality. Credit-default swaps, contracts conceived to protect bondholders against default, pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a company fail to adhere to its debt agreements. The extra yield investors demand to own developing nations’ bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries dropped 3 basis points to 5.70 percentage points, near the lowest in five months, according to JPMorgan’s EMBI+ Index. The index has decreased 25 basis points this week, the fifth consecutive week of declines.

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