(Bloomberg News) Silver and gold climbed to records and oil rose for a fourth day, while the dollar weakened, amid concern inflation will accelerate. U.S. stocks retreated before a report on new-home sales.

Silver for immediate delivery gained 1.5% at 9:33 a.m. in New York after earlier jumping 5.4% to $49.79 an ounce. Gold climbed for a ninth day, while oil rose 0.6% in New York. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.1% while Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 0.1% after Barrick Gold Corp. agreed to buy Equinox Minerals Ltd. for C$7.3 billion ($7.68 billion) in cash. The dollar weakened versus 11 of 16 major peers and the yen fell against all 16.

The dollar's retreat came as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's statement on interest rates and the economic outlook in two days. The homes sales data may bolster speculation the Fed will announce plans to complete its purchase of $600 billion of Treasuries by June. Other data this week may show Japan's retail sales sank and U.S. economic growth slowed, leading the nation's central banks to keep interest rates near zero, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

"Japan and the U.S. are the countries that can't steer toward monetary tightening, so the yen and dollar will be weak," said Daisaku Ueno, president of Gaitame.com Research Institute Ltd. in Tokyo, a unit of Japan's largest currency margin company.

Fed Meeting

The Federal Open Market Committee will hold the benchmark rate in a range of zero to 0.25% on April 27, according to all 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. GDP rose at a 1.9% annual pace after increasing at a 3.1% rate in the previous three months, according to the median estimate of 66 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before an April 28 Commerce Department report.

The Dollar Index slid 0.3% to 73.882. The gauge, used by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. to track the greenback versus the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners, touched 73.735 on April 21, the lowest since August 2008.

The S&P 500 last week increased 1.3%, triggered by profit that topped estimates at companies from Intel Corp. to Johnson & Johnson. Earnings-per-share have exceeded analysts' estimates at 81% of the 124 companies in the index that have reported results since April 11, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

U.S. stock markets were closed on April 22 for the Good Friday holiday.

Home Sales

New-home sales, tabulated when contracts are signed, climbed 12% to a 280,000 annual pace last month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 64 economists. Purchases slumped 17% in February to a 250,000 rate, the weakest in data going back to 1963.

Exchanges from Australia to the U.K. and Germany remain shut today for the Easter holiday.

China's Shanghai Composite Index led losses in Asia after China International Capital Corp. said the nation's consumer prices may rise as much as 5.5% this month. Singapore's inflation held at 5% in March, a government report today showed.

'Strong Enough'

"It's very clear that some Asian countries will keep raising rates more while their economies are strong enough to see more hikes," said Hideki Hayashi, a global economist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. "On the other hand, market players expect the U.S. this week to suggest it would keep low rates for some time, which means more yield appeal for Asia."

Silver, which has more than doubled over the past year, traded at $48.2288 per ounce after earlier reaching a high of $49.79 as investors sought precious metals as a store of value. Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.8% to a record $1,518.32 an ounce.

Corn for July delivery surged 2.1% to $7.60 a bushel on speculation that wet, cold weather across the U.S. Midwest will further delay planting, reducing yields. Wheat for July increased 2.6% to $8.5634 a bushel.

Oil for June delivery increased 0.6% to $112.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after Syrian security forces detained at least 200 people following the killing of anti-government protesters and U.S. Senator John McCain said rebels in Libya need more assistance in the fight against Muammar Qaddafi's forces.

Inflation Concern

The jump in commodity prices is fueling speculation policy makers in Asia will step up tightening efforts. The Malaysian ringgit gained as much as 0.5% to 2.9910, the strongest level since Oct. 9, 1997, on speculation the central bank will raise interest rates next month to help damp inflation.

"There's a perception that central banks in Asia are allowing their currencies to appreciate so as to curb imported inflation," Lee Wai Tuck, a strategist at Forecast Pte in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "There are some concerns that if currencies do not appreciate, inflation may go even higher" in countries including China and Singapore, he said.

The yen against all 16 major peers. Japan's retail sales dropped 6.1% in March from a year earlier after rising 0.1% in February, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey before the government data due April 27.

Japan Forecast

The Bank of Japan may cut its forecast for real growth for fiscal 2011 to 0.8% from 1.6% as a result of the March 11 earthquake, the Nikkei newspaper reported today. The central bank will keep its benchmark interest rate at a range between zero and 0.1% at its next meeting, according to all of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

About four shares declined for every three that climbed in MSCI's Asia Pacific Index, which slipped 0.2% today. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.5%, led by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and China Shenhua Energy Co., after CICC said consumer prices may rise between 5.2% and 5.5% in April. The government has a full-year inflation target of 4%.

Posco slipped 1.9% in Korea after the world's third- biggest steelmaker by output said first-quarter profit dropped 33%. Acer Inc. sank 3.1% in Taiwan after the world's second-largest supplier of notebook computers reported the lowest quarterly profit in six years. Reliance Industries Ltd., India's biggest company by market value, fell 3% in India after posting net income that missed analyst forecasts.

Since April 11, just 42% of the 71 companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific that reported per-share earnings have beaten analyst predictions, compared with about 69% in the MSCI World Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.