Stocks end up for second day on hopes of Europe deal

By Chip Cutter, Associated PressUpdated 48m ago

NEW YORK – Stocks surged Tuesday, then eased a bit, on hopes that European leaders are moving closer to a plan to contain that region's debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 147 points.

It had been up as many as 326 points earlier in the day. The Dow jumped 272 points on Monday.

The 30-stock average has gained considerable ground against its 737-point plunge last week, the worst since the financial crisis.

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Now with a little breathing room above the 11,000 threshhold, the Dow settled at 11,190.70 after its 1.3% gain Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 12.43 points, or 1.1%, to 1,175.38. The Nasdaq composite index rose 30.14, or 1.2%, to 2,546.83.

Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was slightly higher than average at 4.9 billion shares.

Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would do whatever it could to help Greece regain investors' confidence. Greece's finance minister also said that country would receive the next round of bailout loans in time to avoid a default. Greece was at risk of running out of money by mid-October if it did not receive the funds.

Stock trend

Dow Jones industrial average, five trading days "Europeans are finally starting to understand that they need to act with some force to get ahead of the European debt crisis," said John Briggs, a fixed-income strategist at RBS.

Earlier, European markets closed sharply higher. Germany's DAX rose 5.3%, France's CAC-40 5.7%. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 4%.

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