Stocks Rise as Oil, Gold Climb to Record Highs

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Stocks in America rose the most in four days, led by energy and metals-producers, after oil climbed to a record and gold advanced to a 27-year high.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest American oil company, posted its steepest advance since August, while Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s second-biggest gold miner, rallied to the highest since July 2006. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. led a rebound in financial shares after three days of declines pushed valuations to a 10-year low.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 18.1, or 1.2%, to 1,520.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 117.54, or 0.9%, to 13,660.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 30, or 1.1%, to 2,825.18. Almost three stocks gained for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Benchmark indexes in Asia and Europe also climbed.

“Materials are feeding the global boom,” the managing director of Genesis Partners in New York, Michael Williams, said. As for financial stocks, “they’re coiled like a spring, and people don’t recognize their power and the short-term nature of the writedowns.”

Yesterday’s gains were led by this year’s best performing industries. Energy companies in the S&P 500 have rallied 29% since December, the top advance among 10 groups, as oil prices climb toward $100 a barrel. Producers of raw materials have added 24% as an expanding global economy boosts demand.

Exxon rallied $2.72 to $90.38. Chevron Corp., the second-biggest American oil company, added $2.16 to $90.64. The S&P 500 Energy Index climbed 2.7%, the steepest gain among 10 industries.

Crude oil rose to a record above $97 a barrel in New York as a storm forecast to produce 36-foot waves in the North Sea forced BP Plc and ConocoPhillips to evacuate workers and cut production. Crude for December delivery settled at $96.70 a barrel, up 2.9%.

Raw-materials producers in the S&P 500 advanced 2.5% as a group. Newmont added $2.16 to $54.50. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world’s second-biggest copper miner, gained $3.33 to $113.50.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $12.60, or 1.6%, to $823.40 an ounce as record oil prices and a slumping dollar increased concern that inflation will accelerate. Copper also gained, halting a six-session decline, on speculation the dollar’s slide to an all-time low against the euro will boost demand from buyers holding other currencies.

JPMorgan Chase, the third-biggest American bank by assets, added $1.34 to $44.11. Bank of America, the second largest, climbed $1.11 to $45.56. Wells Fargo added $1.02 to $32.95.

At the end of last week, the KBW Bank Index traded for 1.45 times its 24 members’ net assets, the lowest valuation since January 1997, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 Financials Index added 1.7% yesterday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which had dropped 12% in the past three trading sessions, gained $4.77 to $223.16 after denying market speculation that the most-profitable securities firm was preparing to announce a large writedown.

“The rumors seem to be getting more fanciful by the minute,” a spokesman at Goldman in New York, Lucas van Praag, said. “We said there was no truth to them last week and the situation has not changed.”


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