Freeport (NYSE:FCX), Rio (NYSE:RIO), Vale (NYSE:VALE) Rise on Strong Manufacturing Data

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) and Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) are up today as manufacturing and industrial activity in China and the United States was stronger than estimated.

Construction spending was up in September and U.S. manufacturing rose in October. Manufacturing in China also increased to its highest levels in six months.

Add to that the expected announcement the Federal Reserve is going to inflate again, or implement another round of quantitative easing, and you have a scenario where the diversified miners especially will and are benefiting from.

BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) was also up, but they're deriving most of their attention from the Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) bid, which is quickly coming to some resolvement soon.

All the mining companies mentioned are up as of 1:00 PM EDT.