Stocks surge after Italy passes economic reforms

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MATTHEW CRAFT

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks surged Friday, erasing their losses for the week, after Italy and Greece moved closer to forming new governments and getting their financial crises under control. The Dow Jones industrial average rose back above 12,000.

Italy's benchmark stock index leapt 3.7 percent and its borrowing costs plunged after the country's Senate passed a crucial austerity budget demanded by the European Union. Other European stock markets and the euro also pushed higher as investors became more confident that Italy would avoid a fiscal disaster.

The passage clears the way for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi to step down. Berlusconi was widely considered an obstacle to serious economic reforms. The yield on Italy's benchmark two-year bond plunged 0.44 percent point to 5.69 percent. That's a sign bond investors think Italy will succeed in managing its massive debt load.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 275 points to 12,170 as of 11:30 a.m. It closed below 12,000 the previous two days.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111111/D9QUKVIO0.html

[HereSince1628]

1. pump and dump, pump and dump, pump and dump...

it'll only be a matter of 3-4 more years of this and the financials will have completely covered their losses in the housing collapse...