Stocks rose for a fourth day on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will stimulate growth in the world’s largest economy. European government bonds fell and the Swiss franc strengthened. The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.6 percent at 10:13 a.m. in London, trimming the biggest monthly drop since May 2010. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.4 percent and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.9 percent. The Swiss franc appreciated against all 16 of its major counterparts tracked by Bloomberg. Industrial metals rose for a sixth day, the longest streak since July 2010. German unemployment fell in August for a 26th month and retail sales unexpectedly held steady in July, reports showed today. Some Fed officials favored a “more substantial move” beyond an Aug. 9 pledge to hold rates at record lows for two years, according to minutes of policy makers' latest meeting published yesterday. Data from the U.S. may show factory orders climbed while companies added fewer jobs in August than in July. “Most people will be glad to say goodbye to this month,” Russ Koesterich, the San Francisco-based global chief investment strategist for the IShares unit of BlackRock Inc., told Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up.” “Investors are well aware that it’s going to be a slow, stubborn recovery. We’re hoping we remain in positive growth mode. The good news is that a lot of the bad news is already reflected in the price.” Stocks Climb The Stoxx 600 advanced for a third day, paring this month’s decline to 12 percent. Bouygues SA, the French construction company that also runs telecoms and media operations, jumped 11 percent after announcing a buyback and raising its sales target. UPM-Kymmene Oyj, Europe’s second-biggest papermaker, rallied 8.8 percent after saying it will close mills in Finland and Germany. The gain in S&P 500 futures indicated the gauge will climb for a fourth day. U.S. factory orders probably rose 2 percent in July after a 0.8 percent decline the prior month, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Separate data from ADP Employer Services may show companies added 100,000 workers this month, down from 114,000 in July. The private release comes two days before the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, which is forecast to show payrolls climbed by 75,000 in August after an increase of 117,000 in July. Credit Default Swaps The cost of insuring government debt fell to the lowest in two weeks as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet ratified an expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility to help tackle the euro-area debt crisis. The Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps linked to 15 governments dropped 12 basis points to 287. European government bonds dropped, with the yield on 10- year German bunds rising three basis points to 2.18 percent and the yield on French securities advancing four basis points to 2.86 percent. Thirty-year notes led declines in Treasuries, adding two basis points to 3.55 percent. The Swiss franc appreciated 1 percent against the euro and 0.9 percent versus the dollar, snapping three days of declines. The Dollar Index was little changed. All six of the main industrial metals advanced on the London Metal Exchange, with copper rising 0.7 percent to $9,223 a metric ton. Gold declined 0.2 percent to $1,831.25 an ounce, paring the biggest monthly advance since November 2009. Oil in New York lost 0.3 percent to $88.71 a barrel, bringing this month’s drop to 7.3 percent, the biggest decline since May. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1 percent, trimming its slide this month to 10 percent, its worst performance since October 2008. South Korea’s Kospi Index (KOSPI) advanced 2 percent and Taiwan’s Taiex index gained 1.2 percent. The Micex Index jumped 0.8 percent in Moscow, trimming its monthly loss to 10 percent, the biggest drop since June 2009. To contact the reporters on this story: Rob Verdonck in London at rverdonck@bloomberg.net; Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

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