While you were sleeping: Wall St bounces back, copper climbs

Wall Street climbed, as did US Treasuries, while copper rose to its highest level in nearly four years.

Copper increased as China ordered its top producer, Jiangxi Copper, to halt output to ease winter pollution, underpinning the metal's rally fuelled by optimism about the worldwide economic outlook, Bloomberg reported. Copper for delivery in three months rose as high as $US7259 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

"The China shutdown news is certainly propping up copper further than it would be potentially without it," David Meger, a director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures in Chicago, told Bloomberg. "All of that is tied into this whole thread of optimism in US and global growth."

Wall Street moved higher after two sessions that finished in the red. At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 28.09 points, or 0.1%, at 24,774.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.04% to 6939.34 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.08% to 2682.62.

US Treasuries also advanced, sending yields on the 10-year note five basis points lower to 2.412% from 2.467% on Tuesday.

Shares of General Electric pared earlier gains and were down 0.3% after announcing it was increasing its ownership in Sweden’s Arcam, which develops electron-beam melting machines for manufacturing and produces advanced metal powders.

Shares of Tesla slid 1.7% after brokerage KeyBanc downgraded its fourth-quarter estimates for Model 3 deliveries to about 5000 units, from 15,000 units, Reuters reported.

Consumer confidence slips
In the latest US economic data, a Conference Board report showed consumer confidence slipped in December from a 17-year high, declining to a reading of 122.1, down from a reading of 128.6 in November.

"The decline in confidence was fuelled by a somewhat less optimistic outlook for business and job prospects in the coming months," Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in the report.

"Consumers' assessment of current conditions, however, improved moderately," she noted. "Despite the decline in confidence, consumers' expectations remain at historically strong levels, suggesting economic growth will continue well into 2018."

Separately, a National Association of Realtors report showed its pending home sales index last month rose to 109.5, the highest since June and a 0.2% increase from October.

Contract signings were up annually for the first time since June, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

"The housing market is closing the year on a stronger note than earlier this summer, backed by solid job creation and an economy that has kicked into a higher gear," Yun noted in the report."However, new buyers coming into the market are finding out quickly that their options are limited and competition is robust," according to Yun. "Realtors say many would-be buyers from earlier this year, stifled by tight supply and higher prices, are still trying to buy a home."

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.1%. France's CAC40 Index also rose 0.1%, while the UK's FTSE 100 index added 0.4%. Germany's DAX Index slipped 0.02%.

(BusinessDesk)