Investing.com - U.S. stocks rose on Friday after the European Union took great strides to battle its debt crisis and ease credit conditions in debt-saddled nations like Spain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.20% on Friday, the S&P 500 index was up 2.49% while the Nasdaq Composite index finished up 3.00%.
Investors worldwide ditched their safe-haven dollar positions and embraced riskier assets like stocks on news leaders at a European Union summit agreed to enact tough policies to battle the debt crisis, now over two years old.
Steps taken included allowing rescue funds to stabilize bond markets, directly recapitalize banks and the creation of a banking supervisory body later in the year.
The news sent Spanish and Italian bond yields dropping, the dollar falling and stock prices soaring.
European optimism allowed investors to shrug off tepid economic indicators at home.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported earlier that U.S. personal spending remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.0% in May, slightly off from market calls for a gain of 0.1%
European optimism even sent investors ignoring lukewarm consumer sentiment figures.
Meanwhile, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment fell to 73.2 in June from a final reading of 79.3 in May.
Analysts had forecast a 74.1 reading.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average gainers included Bank of America, up 5.68%, Cisco Systems, up 4.13%, and United Technologies, up 4.08%.
Leading index losers included JPMorgan Chase, down 0.39%, McDonald's, up 0.39%, and AT&T, up 0.71%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished up.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 4.96%, France's CAC 40 rose 4.75%, while Germany's DAX 30 finished up 4.33%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 closed up 1.42%.
U.S. markets will be closed on Wednesday for the U.S. Independence Day.
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its June jobs report, a major U.S. market-moving indicator.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 2.20% on Friday, the S&P 500 index was up 2.49% while the Nasdaq Composite index finished up 3.00%.
Investors worldwide ditched their safe-haven dollar positions and embraced riskier assets like stocks on news leaders at a European Union summit agreed to enact tough policies to battle the debt crisis, now over two years old.
Steps taken included allowing rescue funds to stabilize bond markets, directly recapitalize banks and the creation of a banking supervisory body later in the year.
The news sent Spanish and Italian bond yields dropping, the dollar falling and stock prices soaring.
European optimism allowed investors to shrug off tepid economic indicators at home.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported earlier that U.S. personal spending remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.0% in May, slightly off from market calls for a gain of 0.1%
European optimism even sent investors ignoring lukewarm consumer sentiment figures.
Meanwhile, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment fell to 73.2 in June from a final reading of 79.3 in May.
Analysts had forecast a 74.1 reading.
Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average gainers included Bank of America, up 5.68%, Cisco Systems, up 4.13%, and United Technologies, up 4.08%.
Leading index losers included JPMorgan Chase, down 0.39%, McDonald's, up 0.39%, and AT&T, up 0.71%.
European indices, meanwhile, finished up.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 4.96%, France's CAC 40 rose 4.75%, while Germany's DAX 30 finished up 4.33%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 closed up 1.42%.
U.S. markets will be closed on Wednesday for the U.S. Independence Day.
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its June jobs report, a major U.S. market-moving indicator.