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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks jumped at the open on Friday after French President Nicolas Sarkozy hinted at a deal to resolve the Greek debt crisis that has hampered equities and worried investors over a possible credit dry-up.

Sarkozy said “there was no time to lose” on agreeing on a program for Greece, suggesting a deal needed to be reached in July at the latest.

“We want to go as quickly as possible without fixing a date,” Sarkozy said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that the pair had the same position on Greece.

Both leaders said they were united behind a new aid package for Greece in which banks that hold Greek debt would voluntarily shoulder some of the burden.

Analysts saw his comments as a balm for spooked investors.

“To convince existing Greek bondholders to buy new Greek debt is going to be a gargantuan process,” said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

“But the market will deal with that later. For today they’re just happy that the French, Germans and the ECB look like they’re coming to some sort of an agreement.”

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 85.60 points, or 0.72 percent, to 12,047.12. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) rose 10.50 points, or 0.83 percent, to 1,278.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) added 19.84 points, or 0.76 percent, to 2,643.54.

If the S&P 500 and Dow hold on to gains, the indexes would record their first positive week in seven.

Economic data on tap includes the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers preliminary June consumer sentiment index, due at 9:55 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 74.0 compared with 74.3 in the final May report.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by European bureaus; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: reuters.com

NEW YORK (AFP) – US stocks were a mixed bag on Thursday, as worries about a Greek debt crisis were offset by a pair of positive economic reports from the United States.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 64.25 points (0.54 percent) to stand at 11,961.52.

The broader S&P 500 index edged upwards 2.22 points (0.18 percent) to reach 1,267.64, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 7.76 points (0.29 percent) to 2,623.70.

“We had some good economic news today,” said Peter Cardillo of Avalon Partners. “Of course the Greek situation is still in the spotlight.”

Earlier, European stocks tumbled amid fears of a destabilizing default by Greece while the fiscally troubled Mediterranean country was shaken by political uncertainty and street protests.

In the United States, the Labor Department said new jobless claims fell to 414,000 in the week ending June 11, marking a decline of four percent from the previous week.

Meanwhile another report showed that US housing starts grew more than expected in May, rebounding 3.5 percent from April.

The stock of US natural gas pipeline operator Energy Transfer Equity gained 8.2 percent after it announced it was buying another major gas firm, Southern Union Company, in a deal valued at $7.9 billion.

Shares of Southern Union surged 17.5 percent on news of the deal.

In a warning sign for up-and-coming tech companies, Pandora shares plunged 23.9 percent to settle at $13.26, below the company’s IPO price of $16, just one day after the Internet radio company went public.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fell to 2.91 percent from 2.97 percent on Wednesday, while that on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.16 percent from 4.20 percent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Source: afp.com

Stocks are poised to open higher, on track for their first weekly gains after six down weeks, their longest weekly losing streak since 2002.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up slightly for the week. It rose in three of four trading sessions as fresh economic data eased fears that the recovery was losing momentum.

Traders await a report on the Conference Board’s May index of leading economic indicators. Analysts expect a modest increase after April’s decline — the first since June 2010.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 85 points, or 0.7 percent, at 11,984. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures are up 10, or 0.8 percent, at 1,274. Nasdaq 100 futures are up 15, or 0.7 percent, at 2,211.

Source: ap.com

LONDON (AFP) – European stock markets and the euro drifted higher on Friday when investors were reassured by a Franco-German summit on the Greek debt crisis.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top shares rose 0.28 percent to 5,714.92 points in midday trade, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 won 1.08 percent to 7,186.67 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index gained 0.96 percent to 3,828.81.

The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies increased by 1.42 percent to 2,769.29 points.

In foreign exchange deals, the European single currency reversed earlier losses to stand at $1.4282, up from $1.4209 in New York late on Thursday.

“The euro rose after some soothing words from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy at the Franco-German summit,” said Forex.com research director Kathleen Brooks.

“It seems that Germany is converging towards the European Central Bank’s view that there can be no default or credit event in Greece and a long-term solution to Greece’s fiscal woes needs to be found quickly.”

The leaders of France and Germany called Friday for a new Greece rescue package to be worked out as quickly as possible, but gave no details on how voluntary private involvement would work.

“We need a solution as soon as possible so that we have clarity … We have been talking about this for the whole of May and June, discussing the same issues again and again without resolving them,” Merkel said.

“Germany and France are determined at the upcoming EU summit … to say that we want a quick solution,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin after talks with Sarkozy in Berlin and ahead of a working lunch.

Sarkozy agreed, saying: “France and Germany want this new programme to be worked out as quickly as possible. There is no time to lose.”

Both said that private investors should be involved in the new package on a voluntary basis.

Brooks added: “This has reassured the market after a week of turmoil. Now that it appears that Europe is speaking in one voice, the chance of a disorderly default in Athens has been greatly reduced.

“There are still risks out there — Greece still needs to get its next tranche of bailout funds and political risk abounds — but for now the euro is rallying on the back of increased optimism the Greek crisis won’t spread to Portugal, Ireland or Spain.”

In Athens, meanwhile, embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Friday axed his finance minister, naming a former foe to implement deeply unpopular austerity measures and ward off economic meltdown.

Outgoing defence minister Evangelos Venizelos, a tough-talking party veteran who had challenged Papandreou for the party leadership in 2007, was promoted to the critical post and also named deputy prime minister.

Papandreou’s government is locked in tough negotiations with its European peers for a new bailout after a previous EU-IMF rescue was deemed insufficient to get the recession-plagued Greek economy back on its feet.

Source: afp.com