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Business Title: Stocks Soar After ECB Vows To Protect The Euro Stocks soared in the U.S. and Europe Thursday after the European Central Bank president vowed to do whatever it takes to preserve the continents monetary union. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 234 points to 12,913 in the first hour of trading, following European markets sharply higher. Benchmark indexes in Spain and Italy each jumped 5 percent. Frances stock market surged 3 percent. The comments from Mario Draghi at an investor conference at the Olympics raised hopes that Europes central bank might intervene in markets to bring down the cripplingly high borrowing costs for struggling European countries like Spain and Italy. After insisting for months that it was up to governments to restore confidence in the euro, Draghis pledged that The ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. In other signs that investors were becoming more confident that Europes financial crisis would not spin out of control, the euro surged against the dollar and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose. Borrowing costs for Spain and Italy fell sharply. In other U.S. trading, the Standard & Poors 500 index rose 23 points to 1,361 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 43 points to 2,897, despite more disappointing news from technology companies including the online game maker Zynga. Several U.S. companies were also rising sharply after reporting stronger earnings. Sprint Nextel jumped 48 cents, or 14 percent, to $3.84. The countrys third-largest wireless carrier was successful in convincing smartphone subscribers to pay up for unlimited data service, and its service revenue zoomed higher, beating analysts estimates. The gains in the U.S. stock market were broad. All 10 of the industry groups in the S&P 500 index rose, led by telecommunications companies. In Europe, Draghis comments came after days of uncertainty in Europe and rising concern over Spains recession and banking industry, which is reeling following the implosion of a real estate bubble. As borrowing costs for both Spain and Italy rose in the past week, investors feared that both countries might need to be rescued, as Greece, Portugal and Ireland have been. . The borrowing costs for Spains government plunged following Draghis comments as investors anticipated that the European Central Bank might step up its purchases of Spanish government bonds. The yield on Spains benchmark 10-year bond dropped almost half a percentage point, an enormous move, to 6.93 percent. That rate surged as high as 7.54 percent this week as investors dumped the countrys bonds and lost confidence in Spains ability to manage its debts. Technology companies continued to report disappointing earnings following industry leader Apples rare earnings disappointment earlier this week. Zynga Inc., which produces popular social network games CityVille and FarmVille posted poor quarterly results and cut its outlook, prompting a number of analyst downgrades. Its stock fell $2.04, or 40 percent, to $3.03. The news also dragged down shares of Facebook, which got about 12 percent of its 2011 revenue from Zynga. The poor results may hurt Facebooks second-quarter revenue when it reports its own quarterly results later Thursday. Facebook fell $1.74, or 6 percent, to $27.61. Dow Chemical fell 78 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $29.58. The countrys largest chemical maker, said it could accelerate cost-cutting efforts after its second-quarter net income fell 34 percent.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
I'm sure they did. The only tool the Fed (and it's clone the ECB) has, is the printing press. It's a fact that stocks in Zimbabwe did quite well... if you ignore the hyperinflation. Of course, you won't talk about that little problem... because you're more interested in whoring for your favorite sock-puppet candidate. Talk up the economy, when anyone can see we're heading down the toilet... But hey, as long as YOUR political sock-puppet gets re-elected, that's all the matters, right??? IDIOT.
"Most people prefer to believe that their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which he lives is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all." Michael Rivero
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