Dow blows past 13,000 on hope for action in Europe

Source: AP-Excite

By CHRISTINA REXRODE

NEW YORK (AP) - Faced with Facebook, Starbucks and Angela Merkel, the market chose to focus on Merkel.

For a second day, the U.S. stock market powered higher after European leaders, including German chancellor Merkel, pledged to protect the union of 17 countries that use the euro. The Dow Jones industrial average blew past 13,000, a key psychological marker that it hadn't hit since early May.

It wasn't that there weren't any troubling signs about the economy. In fact, they abounded: U.S. economic growth was anemic in the second quarter. A measure of consumer sentiment fell in July as people worried about their job prospects. And Facebook and Starbucks dropped sharply after reporting disappointing quarterly results.

But on this day, investors homed in on a couple of remarks coming from Europe.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120727/DA09FPVO0.html

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, July 26, 2012. The Dow Jones industrial average on Thursday jumped 212 points following big gains in European markets. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)