US stocks closed sharply higher as investors ended
the week with high hopes that European leaders will spend the weekend
forging a plan to tackle the region's debt crisis, while strong earnings
also buoyed shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 267.01
points, or 2.31 per cent, to close at 11,808.79 points. The Standard
& Poor's 500 index rose 22.86 points, or 1.88 per cent, to close at
1,238.25 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 38.84 points, or 1.49
per cent, to 2,637.46 points.
"The major averages all hold gains in excess
of one per cent as markets see a strong opening surge in anticipation
that this weekend's European Union Summit will provide some answers as
to how Europe plans to combat its debt crisis," said analysts at
Briefing.com.
Talks on beefing up the eurozone bailout fund
are expected to revolve around two options - a system of partially
insuring debt and a bigger role for the International Monetary Fund, a
German government source said on Friday.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year
Treasury rose to 2.20 per cent from 2.19 per cent the day before, while
the 30-year Treasury climbed to 3.24 per cent from 3.22.
Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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