The yen climbed and commodities snapped the biggest jump in more than four months before reports that may show slowing global growth. Asian stocks swung between gains and losses, while U.S. equity futures fell, signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may halt a three-day rally. Japan’s currency rose 0.3 percent to 76.58 per dollar and strengthened 0.5 percent to 103.82 versus the euro as of 1:13 p.m. in Tokyo. Oil declined 1.5 percent in New York and copper slipped 2.2 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed after adding 0.5 percent earlier. S&P 500 futures expiring in December slipped 0.5 percent. Treasury 10-year notes advanced for the first time in four days and bond risk increased. Commerce Department data today may show U.S. durable goods orders fell and a separate report may confirm European consumer confidence dropped to a two-year low in September, after South Korea’s central bank said sentiment among manufacturers held at a 21-month low. Stocks and commodities rallied yesterday after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a vote on a new property tax in parliament and German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to continue to help the country stave off default. “This relief rally is largely based on hopes rather than facts; at the end of the day, the bigger picture is that we’re in a bear market in equities globally and we’ll get these bouts of hope and they will be followed by phases of disappointment and reality sinking in,” Mikio Kumada, a global strategist at LGT Capital Management in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg television interview. “Overall the big picture hasn’t improved in the last few days and the opposite is rather the case. The problems remain in Europe.” Yen Strength The yen strengthened against all 16 most-actively traded counterparts. It’s gained 12 percent in the past three months, the best performer among the 10 currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. Commodity currencies jumped yesterday after a rebound in raw material prices, with the Australian and New Zealand dollars rising at least 0.8 percent against their U.S. counterpart. The ruble strengthened yesterday for the first time in 13 days against the Russian central bank’s target euro-dollar basket. The Aussie fell 0.5 percent to 98.62 U.S. cents today and the kiwi was little changed at 78.53 U.S. cents. S&P’s GSCI Index declined 0.8 percent after gaining 3.3 percent yesterday, the most since May 9. The measure of 24 raw materials has dropped 8 percent this quarter. Oil for November delivery fell 1.5 percent to $83.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude yesterday jumped 5.3 percent, the most since May, to settle at a one-week high. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. gasoline stockpiles rose the most in five weeks. Copper, Gold Three-month copper slipped 2.2 percent to $7,430 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, after rallying 4.5 percent yesterday, the most since February 2010. Gold for immediate delivery retreated 0.2 percent to $1,646.10 an ounce, snapping yesterday’s 1.5 percent gain. Cash silver slipped 1.6 percent to $31.385. The metal jumped 3.8 percent yesterday. About three shares climbed for every two that fell on MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index, which rallied 4.1 percent yesterday, the most since April 2009. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.2 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.9 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9 percent. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 4.2 percent after the market was closed yesterday for a typhoon. An index of bank shares on the MSCI regional index slid 0.3 percent after surging 4.8 percent yesterday. The Financial Times reported that some euro-area countries are demanding private creditors take bigger writedowns on their Greek bond holdings. OCI, CSR OCI Co., South Korea’s biggest maker of polysilicon, dropped 11 percent after Shinhan Investment Corp. cut its share- price forecast. CSR Corp., China’s biggest trainmaker, sank 7.1 percent after a Shanghai subway train rammed into the back of another locomotive yesterday. Futures indicate the S&P 500 may snap a three-day, 4.1 percent jump. Futures on the VIX show investors expect the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index to remain at least 50 percent above its historical average of 20.5 through May, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Treasury 10-year yields decreased three basis points to 1.94 percent after increasing 25 basis points in the previous three days. Durable goods orders probably declined 0.2 percent in August, according to the median economist forecast in a Bloomberg News survey before today’s report. The developed economies of Japan, Europe and the U.S. “are in a dead zone because they’re all heavily indebted and as they pay down that debt, it just slows everything down,” Wayne Wilbanks, chief investment officer at Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management in Norfolk, Virginia, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The cost of insuring Asia-Pacific corporate and sovereign bonds against non-payment increased, with the Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan jumping eight basis points to 228.5 basis points, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc prices show. The Markit iTraxx Australia index rose four basis points to 207, Westpac Banking Corp. prices show. To contact the reporter on this story: Shiyin Chen in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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