S&P 500 Rallies Most This Year on Earnings as Euro Gains

U.S. stocks rallied the most this year amid better-than-estimated earnings and jobless claims, while the euro rose and German bonds fell as the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged and refrained from adding stimulus. Gasoline, nickel and zinc led commodity gains.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.2 percent at 4 p.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 1.5 percent, the best gains of the year for both, and a gauge of stocks in emerging markets climbed the most since November. The euro strengthened 0.4 percent to $1.3592 and the yield on 10-year German bunds rose six basis points. Most currencies of developing nations rose against the dollar, with Chile’s peso, Hungary’s forint and Turkey’s lira rising at least 1.2 percent. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities rose for a third day.