US stocks leap on eurozone deal

NEW YORK: US stocks leaped two percent on Friday sparked by the dramatic measures adopted in Brussels to stem the eurozone crisis and stimulate growth, giving the markets a strong end to a rocky first half.

The Nasdaq finished with a shock 3.00 percent gain, as Apple put on 2.6 percent and Google rose 2.8 percent, offsetting Research In Motion, which lost nearly one-fifth of its value.

Big industrial groups led the NYSE charge upward, with General Electric rising 3.1 percent, 3M 2.8 percent, United Technologies 4.1 percent and Boeing 3.8 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 277.83 points (2.20 percent) at 12,880.09.

The S&P 500 index gained 33.12 points (2.49 percent) to 1,362.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq rose 85.56 points (3.00 percent) to 2,935.05.

That gave all three solid gains for the first half of the year, after having been near break-even at the beginning of June.

The Dow was up 5.4 percent for the six months, the S&P 8.3 percent, and the Nasdaq 12.7 percent.

Friday's jump followed a deal by the top leaders of the eurozone to use emergency funds to support ailing banks directly and to ease pressure on governments' debt burdens, and to inject 120 billion euros (US$150 billion) of stimulus money into the suffering euro area economy.

"This summit was a step in the right direction, but it was not complete with respect to the longer-term framework," said Marco Valli of Unicredit. "Imminent disaster has been averted, but more needs to be done."

Bank of America led the Dow 30 blue chips, adding 5.7 percent, and Hewlett-Packard rose 3.9 percent.

Despite the strong gains there were prominent big losers too. Nike lost 9.4 percent after reporting that its profit fell in its fourth quarter despite a rise in revenues, and its order book came in under expectations.

Blackberry maker Research In Motion plunged 19.1 percent after reporting a widening loss for the quarter to June 2 on worsening sales, and announcing a delay in its new smartphone platform.

"RIM's prospects appear to be turning from bad to worse," said Tal Liani, a research analyst at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

And JPMorgan Chase was the only one of the Dow 30 blue chips to miss the boat, losing 0.4 percent, amid ongoing worries over the size of losses it racked up on a mismanaged derivatives trading scheme. -- AFP