BLBG:Metals Gain With Aussie on China Trade as Stocks Climb
Metals rallied, with copper climbing to a eight-week high, while the Australian dollar and South African rand led gains by commodity-producing nations as China’s exports and imports topped forecasts. European stocks rose as Deutsche Telekom AG and Commerzbank AG results beat estimates.
Copper climbed 2.4 percent to $7,173 a metric ton at 7:20 a.m. in New York, with zinc advancing 2 percent. The Aussie jumped 0.8 percent to 90.72 U.S. cents, after touching 90.89, the highest since July 30. The rand gained 1 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.5 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures rose 0.4 percent. The yield on 10-year German bunds (GDBR10) increased one basis point to 1.70 percent.
China’s exports increased 5.1 percent in July from a year earlier, more than double the 2 percent pace forecast in a Bloomberg survey, government data showed today. The U.S. may announce an increase in claims for jobless benefits today, after Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Sandra Pianalto said there had been “meaningful improvement” in the labor market and a scaling back of asset purchases may be warranted if it continues.
“China’s economy looks like it’s going to continue to grow and that should be positive for commodities demand,” said Richard Fu, director for Asian commodity trading at Newedge Group SA in London. “There is still huge demand from there in the long term.”
Lame Livestock
Copper climbed as much as 2.4 percent to $7,180, the highest level since June 13. Live cattle rose 2.4 percent and earlier today climbed to a five-month high after Tyson Foods Inc., the top U.S. meat processor, said it plans to stop buying animals fed with a supplement made by Merck & Co. after discovering lame livestock at factories.
The Stoxx 600 snapped a two-day decline, with trading volumes 15 percent above the 30-day average. Deutsche Telekom, Germany’s largest phone company, climbed 6.9 percent after second-quarter sales beat estimates.
Commerzbank, the German bank forced into a state bailout, surged 12 percent, the most in 12 weeks, after reporting net income that exceeded projections. Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food company, slid 2.4 percent after reporting the slowest first-half revenue growth in four years.
The gain in S&P 500 futures indicated the U.S. gauge may halt a three-day retreat. Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the electric-car company led by Elon Musk, jumped 15 percent in early U.S. trading after reporting operating profit that surpassed analysts’ estimates on a surge in Model S sedan deliveries.
Groupon Loss
Groupon Inc. soared 25 percent in pre-market trading as the largest daily-deals website reported a narrower-than-projected loss and named Eric Lefkofsky as chief executive officer.
Initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to 335,000 last week, after falling to a five-year low of 326,000 in the previous period, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists before data at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rebounded from a four-week low, rising 0.4 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong added 0.4 percent. China’s imports gained 10.9 percent, more than the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 1 percent growth and leaving a trade surplus of $17.8 billion.
India’s Sensex Index jumped 0.7 percent and the rupee strengthened 0.7 percent. Benchmark gauges in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Thailand rose more than 1 percent.
The yen was little changed against the dollar after the Bank of Japan refrained from boosting it stimulus measures that tend to weaken a currency. Japan’s currency was at 96.32 per dollar after appreciating to 96.10, the strongest since June 19.
The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell 0.2 percent, declining for a fifth day, the longest streak of losses since April 30. The euro gained 0.2 percent to $1.3358 and the pound added 0.1 percent to $1.5511.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 2.59 percent, while 10-year gilts erased earlier gains, sending yields one basis point higher to 2.49 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Frost in Hong Kong at rfrost4@bloomberg.net; Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at Swallace6@bloomberg.net
