By Stuart Wallace Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Metals rose for a fourth day as icy weather across the Northern Hemisphere threatened to disrupt production. The yen weakened, while Greek bonds declined on deficit concerns. Copper advanced to the highest price since August 2008 at 1:20 p.m. in London and aluminum increased the most since October 2008. The yen slid against all 16 of its most-traded counterparts. The yield on the Greek two-year note jumped 8 basis points to 3.02 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent, while European stocks fluctuated as automakers rose and retail shares fell. Near-record snowfalls and below-average temperatures from Beijing to London closed airports and roads, while the U.S. may suffer its worst winter in 25 years, AccuWeather.com predicted. The freeze may hamper the global economic recovery after the deepest slump since World War II. Investors speculated that China, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, will struggle to maintain output. “The cold snap in many parts of the world will weigh on gross domestic product,” Steven Barrow, head of Group of 10 foreign-exchange strategy at Standard Bank Plc in London, wrote in an e-mailed note today. “The impact might not be huge but coupled with hints of underlying softness in the global economy’s performance it could raise question marks over recent stock strength and bond market weakness.” Copper, Platinum Copper for delivery in three months rose 2 percent to $7,631 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and aluminum gained 1.1 percent to $2,328 a ton. Lead added 3.7 percent to $2,615 a ton. Platinum, used in catalytic converters, rose 1.3 percent to $1,549.25 an ounce, the highest level since August 2008, after U.S. automakers reported a 15 percent increase in sales last month. U.S. natural gas futures gained as much as 2 percent to $5.747 a million British thermal units and orange juice jumped to a two-year high in New York yesterday on concern freezing weather will damage crops. In the U.K., gas futures dropped as imports from Belgium and Norway increased. Oil was little changed at $81.49 a barrel in New York, near a 14-month high. Greek bonds snapped two days of gains after Italy’s Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper cited European Central Bank policy maker Juergen Stark as saying markets can’t assume the country will be bailed out. European Union officials are starting a three-day visit to Athens as the government struggles to cut its budget deficit, estimated at 12.7 percent of gross domestic product last year. Bond Sales Treasuries dropped, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising 2 basis points to 3.78 percent. The extra yield investors demand to hold bank bonds rather than government securities fell 4 basis points to 244, from as much as 881 in March, Merrill Lynch index data show. Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, the German agricultural agency, plans to sell five-year bonds in dollars today, a banker involved in the deal said, after $23.8 billion of dollar offerings from financial companies made yesterday the biggest day for issuance since Feb. 18, 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Turkey’s government said it received $7.3 billion of orders for a $2 billion sale of 30-year bonds yesterday. The bonds were little changed in the first day of trading. The extra yield investors demand over U.S. Treasuries to own emerging-market bonds fell 5 basis points to 269 basis points, matching the lowest spread in 19 months. Yen Falls The yen dropped 1 percent against the South Korean won and 1 percent against the Australian dollar as gains in Asian stocks spurred investors to seek higher-yielding assets. The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations’ stocks slipped 0.1 percent. Marks & Spencer Group Plc fell 5.4 percent in London after sales missed estimates and U.K. consumer confidence dropped the most in more than a year. The decline in U.S. futures indicated that the S&P 500 may retreat from a 15-month high. A 10-month rally has left the benchmark gauge for U.S. equities valued at more than 24 times its companies’ reported earnings, the most expensive level since 2002, according to Bloomberg data. “The stock rally is not sustainable at the current pace,” Suki Mann, a strategist at Societe Generale SA in London, wrote in a research note. “There will be many bad days and periods where the data will leave much to be desired.” A report scheduled for 10 a.m. New York time may show service industries in the U.S. expanded in December for the third time in four months, indicating the recovery is extending beyond factories, economists said. A separate report from ADP Employer Services showed companies last month cut the fewest jobs since March 2008. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News project the U.S. government will say on Jan. 8 that payrolls were unchanged in December, the first month employment didn’t contract since the recession began two years ago. To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Wallace in London at swallace6@bloomberg.net

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