Stocks rose for a second day and the yen fell against all of its major peers as the Bank of Japan pledged to add monetary stimulus and investors awaited data that may show U.S. jobless claims declined a third week. Commodities rallied and the Australian dollar strengthened. The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 0.2 percent as of 8:01 a.m. in London. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.3 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.5 percent. The yen fell 0.3 percent, while Australia’s dollar advanced to a one-week high. Copper led the S&P GSCI Index of commodities to a 0.3 percent gain. The BOJ will pursue “powerful easing� to overcome deflation, central bank Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said. Data later today may show claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped to 355,000 last week, the lowest level in four years. Italy is scheduled to auction as much as 5 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in debt maturing in 2015, 2020 and 2023 as rising borrowing costs in Europe signal concern the debt crisis is worsening. The earnings season in the U.S. is beginning with Google Inc. (GOOG) scheduled to release results after the close of trading today. Profits from S&P 500 companies, excluding financials, are seen gaining 0.6 percent in the first and the second quarter from a year earlier, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg, the slowest growth rate since 2009. Asian Stocks Rally Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) climbed 0.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.8 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index slid 0.4 percent as trading resumed after a holiday. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.8 percent. China may cut interest rates in the “immediate future� as inflation isn’t too high to prevent further easing of monetary policy, Michael Kurtz, the chief Asian equity strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a report dated yesterday. Industrial stocks (MXWD) in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.1 percent for the second-biggest advance among 10 industries. Fanuc Corp., a maker of robots used in factories, climbed 2.7 percent in Tokyo. Citigroup said the industry has “solid� earnings and cash levels are at a record high, according to a research report dated yesterday. Copper rallied for a second day, climbing 1 percent. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday deliveries of passenger cars climbed 4.5 percent to 1.4 million units last month. Sales were projected to increase 3.9 percent, according to the average estimate of a Bloomberg News survey of eight analysts. Oil rose for a second day in New York, climbing 0.3 percent to $103 a barrel. Natural gas futures remained below $2 per million British thermal units. The yen sank 0.4 percent to 106.44 per euro. The Japanese currency has weakened 7.8 percent in the past three months, the biggest decline among the 10 currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar is the second-worst performer with a 2.1 percent drop during the period. To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net; Rishaad Salamat in Hong Kong at rishaad@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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