American stocks climbed, led by energy and metals shares, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted oil will gain 29% through the end of the year and Morgan Stanley advised buying Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

Devon Energy Co., the biggest independent American oil producer, and National Oilwell Varco Inc., the largest maker of drilling equipment, added more than 6% as crude posted the first back-to-back advance in five weeks. Freeport rose the most since August 6 on speculation it will benefit from dwindling copper supplies. Hewlett-Packard Co., the largest personal-computer maker, gained 5.7% for the biggest increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after profit topped forecasts.

“The economy is probably going sideways with very little growth, so people are gradually gravitating back toward energy and basic materials as safer places,” a money manager at Security Global Investors, which oversees $11 billion in Irvington, N.Y., Mark Bronzo, said. “We have a bigger bet on basic materials than we do on energy, but essentially they’re trading the same.”

Yesterday’s advance snapped a two-day, 2.4% slide in the S&P 500, its worst retreat in a month. Concern that funding shortages at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will add to banks’ $500 billion in credit losses sent financial shares down 6.3% during the week’s first two days.