Wall Street rises on European hope

U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday after the blue-chip Dow suffered its worst weekly decline since October 2008, as investors expected eurozone policy makers to take bolder steps to deal with the debt problems.

U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday after the blue-chip Dow suffered its worst weekly decline since October 2008, as investors expected eurozone policy makers to take bolder steps to deal with the debt problems.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 272.38 points, or 2.53 percent, to 11,043.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 rallied 26.52 points, or 2.33 percent, to 1,162.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 33.46 points, or 1.35 percent, to 2,516.69.

"1100 is the next short term support level -- and will be tested early on today. Looking at the chart -- this was the level back in June 2010 that proved to be resistance before the great QE2 rally," said Kenneth Polcari, veteran trader at NYSE.

The blue-chip Dow reclaimed 11,000 after losing more than 700 points last week. Big banks were leading the gains throughout the session, with JP Morgan Chase soaring more than 6 percent, the best performer in the Dow.

On economic front, the U.S. Commerce Department said Monday that new home sales dipped to a nine-month low of 295,000 in August from 302,000 in July, showing that the housing market situation worsened.

Investors shrugged off this dismal report and embraced euro zone hopes.

European officials are considering new plans, including using leverage to increase the capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility, to prevent the Greek debt crisis from spreading to other eurozone countries.

Moreover, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during the weekend that banks and private institutions that hold Greek bonds need to take a bigger loss on those holdings to reduce Greece's debt burden.

The U.S. dollar fell against major currencies in late New York trading on Monday with the dollar index losing 0.36 percent to 78.22.

Crude prices edged up on Monday as the dollar weakened. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 39 cents, or 0.49 percent to 80.24 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for November delivery ended flat, slightly down 3 cents to close at 103.94 dollars a barrel.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

Wall Street rises on European hope

U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday after the blue-chip Dow suffered its worst weekly decline since October 2008, as investors expected eurozone policy makers to take bolder steps to deal with the debt problems.

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