Stock Market News: Citigroup (NYSE:C), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM)

Copper climbed in London as accelerating growth in Japan, the world’s fourth-largest consumer of the metal, may support demand for metals. Japan’s gross domestic product grew at an annual 4.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today, more than the 3.5 percent median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The price of copper more than doubled last year on forecasts for economic growth. “One positive thing for the bulls was the Japanese GDP data,” said David Thurtell, a Citigroup (NYSE:C) analyst in London. Japan is a “significant” consumer of copper, he said. Copper for three-month delivery jumped $70, or 1 percent, to $6,880 a metric ton at 12:33 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices last week gained 8.4 percent, the most since July. -Bloomberg

The dollar is mostly higher and the euro lower as the market waits to see if the meeting of Europe’s finance ministers produces any more details of Greek package. “The market is awaiting the outcome of how the finance ministers plan to deal with the problem that is Greece and its debt,” says Michael Hewson at CMC Markets. He added that the debt story continues to weigh on investor sentiment, with worries about Dubai resurfacing after Dubai shares suffered their biggest drop in three weeks on concerns Dubai World may fail to present a credible plan to creditors. The dollar is up at 90.06 yen while the euro slid to $1.3595. The pound is down at $1.5669.  European equity markets traded higher as investors awaited the outcome of the EU meeting. -The Wall Street Journal

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) shares were up 0.9% after the drug giant was upgraded to neutral from underperform at JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM). “GSK is the first large cap to emerge from the patent cliff in late 2010, and thus will be the first benchmark for profitability and earnings growth of a pharmaceutical large cap post-patent cliff,” the broker said.-MarketWatch

Japan held its title as the world’s second-biggest economy after fourth-quarter growth beat expectations and kept the country just ahead of a surging China. Real gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 4.6 percent in the October-December period, the government said Monday. The average forecast of 15 economists polled by The Associated Press was annualized growth of 3.4 percent. Japan’s nominal GDP for the 2009 calendar year came to about $5.1 trillion, topping China’s domestic output of $4.9 trillion.-Forbes

- Need more research?  ETF analysis is available in Oakshire’s analyst Nick Thomas’ latest Bourbon and Bayonets article, “International Stocks with Serious Potential”

.