Stocks Jump on German Bailout Vote, Benign US Economic Data

U.S. equities are surging in Thursday morning trading after the lower house of Germany’s parliament approved strengthening the Eurozone bailout funds, signaling a possible stabilization in the European debt crisis.

As of 10 a.m. (New York time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 236.25 points, or 2.15 percent, at 11,247.15. The S&P 500 Index has climbed 20.88 points, or 1.81 percent, at 1,171.94; while The Nasdaq Composite Index is up 32.53 points, or 1.31 percent, at 2,524.11.

Financial stocks are particularly buoyant -- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is up 5.2 percent; JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) has climbed 5.0 percent; Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has jumped 4 percent.

Traders were also likely pleased with data indicating that US GDP grew by an annualized rate of 1.3 percent, better than expected. Also, the number of people filing for new unemployment claims fell by 37,000 to 391,000, significantly lower than expected.

Shares of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) are up 2.7 percent after the handset maker said it will cut an additional 3500 jobs.

Bourses in Europe are also higher, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 up 2.1 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Britain’s FTSE-100 is up a modest 0.4 percent.

Oil futures in New York are soaring almost 3 percent.

Bonds are falling as the 10-Year Treasury yield has moved up to 2.02 percent.