Wall St higher as investors bet on Greece plan
Stocks rebounded from three days of losses on Monday as investors bet there would be a near-term resolution to some of the uncertainty over Greece's fiscal crisis, but the absence of a firm plan could limit the market's upside.
The Greek parliament will begin to debate a deeply unpopular austerity program that must be approved in order to get the next bailout payment. A Greek minister warned of catastrophe if the measure is not passed in a vote later this week.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his government had an agreement with French banks on rolling over Greek debt into new 30-year bonds, which helped ease tensions around the region.
Traders see a Greek sovereign default as unlikely, and the S&P 500 holding its 200-day moving average was viewed as a sign of technical support following two months of heavy selling that brought the index down about 7 percent.
There's still a lot of fear out there, but the absence of bad news over the past few days, coupled with the selloff late Friday, is creating a bounce now, said Mitch Rubin, chief investment officer at RiverPark Advisors in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 89.80 points, or 0.75 percent, at 12,024.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 8.33 points, or 0.66 percent, at 1,276.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 24.56 points, or 0.93 percent, at 2,677.45.
Financials, which have been pressured by the ongoing euro-zone sovereign debt crisis, were among the day's biggest gainers, with the S&P financial index <.GSPF> up 1.1 percent. Bank of America Corp
In the latest economic data, U.S. consumer spending was unchanged in May, according to a government report, while a reading on Midwest manufacturing rose slightly in May from the prior month. Futures barely moved after the data.
August crude futures fell 0.5 percent, continuing a drop of more than 5 percent in less than a week.
The speculative money is coming out of oil, and that could wind up being another catalyst to getting the markets moving, Rubin said. It should make gas prices a little more temperate, which will help the consumer.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co
Continucare Corp
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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