E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSNEW YORK — A promised plan to restore long-term confidence in the euro boosted stocks and other risky assets Monday.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 150 points, led by banks. Italian bond yields dropped sharply after the nation's new government introduced austerity measures. The euro and commodities prices rose.
The leaders of France and Germany, the two strongest economic powers in the euro area, called for a new European Union treaty designed to avert another crisis by imposing greater fiscal discipline on member countries. Ballooning deficits in Greece, Portugal and Ireland have forced those countries take bailouts from their neighbors.
Investors are hoping that a summit of European leaders this Friday will produce concrete measures to prevent a messy breakup of the euro currency, which is shared by 17 nations. Markets have been jittery because of fears that the euro might disintegrate, causing a sharp recession in Europe that would spread through the world economy.
While the statements from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were far from a long-term solution, investors are eager to buy on any hint of good news because they have been earning meager returns from relatively low-risk investments such as Treasurys and CDs, said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist with Cetera Financial Group.
"There's pent-up demand, and people will use any excuse to get back in, thinking there's been too much pessimism," Gendreau said. Despite strong signals about the U.S. economy, the market has been weighed down by negative headlines about the U.S. budget impasse, credit-rating downgrades of the U.S. and other nations, and Europe's spreading crisis, Gendreau said.
Yields on Italian bonds dove to their lowest level in a month, suggesting traders believe that Italy is far less likely to default. The main Italian stock index jumped 2.9 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 141 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,161 shortly after noon (1700 GMT). The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19, or 1.5 percent, to 1,263. The Nasdaq composite index gained 40, or 1.5 percent, to 2.667.
The gains were broad, lifting 28 of the 30 stocks in the Dow and all 10 industry groups in the S&P 500.
Financials stocks were among the biggest winners. Investors have feared that U.S. banks might be dragged down by their close connections to the unstable European financial system.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. jumped 4.4 percent, the most in the Dow. Bank of America was the second-biggest gainer of the Dow 30, rising 3.7 percent. Citigroup Inc. rose 6.4 percent, Morgan Stanley 5.5 percent.
Monday's strong gains follow the best week in more than two years for U.S. stock indexes. The S&P 500 rose 7.4 percent last week, the most since March 2009. The Dow jumped 7 percent, the most since July 2009.
Markets are hopeful that, given the gravity of the situation afflicting the euro zone, the German and French leaders will come up with a common proposal for tighter integration on budget matters. Analysts say that such a plan could lead to further emergency aid from the European Central Bank, possibly through the International Monetary Fund.
Italy's borrowing costs pulled back from a level that might have forced the nation to default. Analysts say bailing out Italy would be too costly and would hurt the credit standing of German and France, which have the strongest economies in the euro group.
The yield on the 10-year Italian bond plunged half a percentage point to 5.97 percent. It rose above 7 percent last month, a level at which other nations were forced to take bailouts. By comparison, bond yields in Germany, Europe's largest and most stable economy, are roughly 2 percent.
The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.3456. Crude oil rose 85 cents a barrel to $101.81 in New York.
In corporate news:
- Gannett Co. leapt 11.4 percent after the media company was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by analysts at Lazard Capital Markets.
- Incyte Corp. fell 2.7 percent after a Citigroup analyst downgraded the drug maker to "neutral" from "buy," saying its new blood-disease drug Jakafi might not work as a long-term treatment.
- SuccessFactors Inc. soared more than 50 percent after the company agreed to be sold to German software company SAP for $3.4 billion. SuccessFactors makes software specializing in human resources tasks. The deal is part of SAP's plan to compete with software rival Oracle Corp.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
The United States is in line to get our country foreclosed upon, just like what’s happening to the European countries. If you didn’t notice, the American and European banks just got bailed out again. The house of cards is collapsing. America is the largest debtor in the history of the world (15.1 trillion and counting).
I think most people have figured out that Wall Street is one of the most corrupt and ethically deprived institutions on our planet. I think most people also know the media is bought and sold just like most politicians. We also know that Wall Street is one of many tools of the elite but not the main tool. What is very clear is that our financial system has an architect and carefully designed plan that is playing itself out in Europe.
“Money” is derived from debt. The U.S requests Federal Reserve notes (debt) from the Federal Reserve (which is neither federal nor a reserve) by giving paper Treasury Bonds (debt) to the Federal Reserve in exchange. As a result, a concept is agreed upon, debt for debt, not anything tangible is agreed upon. Monopoly money is then authorized (created but not minted, that is done by Federal mints) by a consortium of mostly European banksters with the Rothschild’s at its head is also created out of thin air. Tack on Interest to that debt now owed to a foreign entity and you have a perfect storm for taking over and controlling economies and nations. The pool of debt money (exchange of Treasury Bonds for Federal Reserve notes) put in the system is now always there and can be replenished by borrowing more (exchanging more bonds for more notes) but the interest added to the debt is never put into the system and therefore can never be paid back. If there were no debts owed in our money system (money put in to the system and then paid back) there wouldn’t be any “money”, but because there is interest attached we will always have a negative balance by always having to borrow to pay the interest that is attached to every dollar borrowed. The interest is exponential and we can never break even again with the Federal Reserve and will always be in debt to them. “Money” isn’t designed to represent the value of the goods and services in any economy, it is merely used as an exchange for the goods and services, it is designed to put you into debt. The concept of interest owed and attached to loans will always exceed the money in circulation. So the big pool of money owed is bigger than the pool we as laborers actually have to draw on to pay our bills. It’s like musical chairs we are always competing for the small pool of money and there have to be winners and losers in this system. That’s why inflation is a constant and new money is always needed to cover the interest. Interest (usury) is the bullet in the Federal Reserve’s weapon of mass destruction. Without a country controlling and managing their own currency they are then relegated to economic slavery. I will try and explain as I go along, please pardon the redundancies.
The dominoes are beginning to fall in what is an orchestrated attempt by the banksters (Federal Reserve and its subsidiaries) to consolidate Europe and eventually the rest of the world’s economies under one umbrella that is to be controlled by those that have always controlled currency and money. The most egregious aspect of this contrived extortion is that they are blaming the people who are the backbone of any economy instead of their greedy corrupt political and business leaders.
George Papandreou was pressured to quit because he lapsed into a morally and ethical responsible position by trying to give the people of Greece a say in their economic future through a referendum. This vote would have given the Greek people the choice to stay in the Euro zone and allow their country to be foreclosed upon by the banksters or leave the Euro regain their sovereignty and coin their own currency once again. The IMF bullied the smallest country as a litmus test for what is going to be a much more challenging foreclosure process when it comes to the larger economies. Italy is now in the cross hairs. This dilemma you are watching unfold goes to the core of the rotten apple that is the world’s financial system.
Folks, you are witnessing the death throes of a corrupt financial system where the stock markets and the fractional reserve banking system are at its core. In the United States, It doesn’t matter who’s in office. Our political system has turned into a two headed one party system with both parties serving their masters, Wall Street and the banksters/Federal Reserve. The stock market is just another ponzi scheme whose intent is to fleece the gullible at the bottom of the pyramid. The stock market is a rogue element of a financial system that is meant to funnel the wealth to the elite/banksters who soicopathically control our financial lives. The stock market isn’t the main problem; it’s the fractional reserve banking system that has set the foundation for outright theft. We are experiencing the biggest bank and investment robbery in history and the banks and financial institutions are doing the robbing. When you blame one political party or another they have you right where they want you, in fear, divided and distracted to the theft that is going on right in front of your eyes each and every second of the day.
When you have people on Wall Street day trading and speculating making half a million dollars a year in their twenties betting on people being foreclosed on, you need to ask yourself what is the true purpose of our banking system?. MF Global CEO, ex Goldman Sachs CEO Jim Corzine knows this and knows that nobody with his connections have served any time for stealing the investor’s money (1.2 billion at last count). The financial system’s main mission should be to allocate capital to areas of greatest growth in the real world economy. Yet they allow all kinds of broker speculation and financial gimmicks such as the derivative markets which are based on non-realistic side bets which are now in the quadrillions. The derivatives market was illegal for most of the 20th century.
The European banking crisis is a prime example of what is going to happen to all economies associated with stock market fraud and the Federal Reserve banking system. The financial strife in Greece is the model that will befall most countries. Greece is but a symptom of a cancer that has attached itself to the world’s economies. The Federal Reserve (which is neither federal nor a reserve) has been creating money (monopoly money) out of thin air and charging interest on it insuring a debtor economy for anyone who chooses or is forced to get involved with the Federal Reserve and their fractional reserve banking system. That is why this whole European or any countries current debt crisis will never be resolved and will be preyed upon by the stock market vultures. The Federal Reserve System is designed to cause economies to fail.
If someone loans you two dollars to run your economy and expects three back for the loan and interest how are you going to pay the third back? You can’t unless you borrow more dollars which puts you in perpetual debt and in a constant borrowing cycle to pay off the debt. This is designed not accidental.
Here’s the kicker, once the Federal Reserve/banksters have you struggling to pay off your interest, they send in their loan sharks the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF will loan you money to cover your ever burdening interest payments but they attach a provision that if you default, you will have to give them your assets in what they call privatization (foreclosure).
Banks, Central banks, World Bank, IMF = Federal Reserve = Debtor economies(economics slaves)
Trust Verify hits it; forgot the boullion scam, but dead-nuts on. I love the 2-headed one party system comment; spot-on!