Stocks, commodities climb as economic confidence rises

By Marc Jones
LONDON (Reuters) – World markets had a swagger about them on Tuesday as upbeat economic data and signs of a revival in inflation pushed up stocks and commodity prices and kept the dollar at a nine-month high.
Wall Street <ESc1> was set to tick higher with consumer confidence figures due and analysts already tucking into healthy-looking earnings from Procter & Gamble, General Motors and drugs giant Merck, but also a profit downgrade from Caterpillar. [.N] <ECONG7