- DJIA up 52.30 (+0.43%) to 12,150.13
- S&P 500 up 1.39 (+0.11%) to 1,258.47
- Nasdaq down 6.20 (-0.23%) to 2,649.56
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
- Nikkei down 1.39%
- Hang Seng down 1.24%
- Shanghai Composite down 0.32%
- FTSE-100 up 0.01%
- DAX-30 down 1.2%
U.S. stocks rallied as they approached the closing bell, and closed up after the Financial Times reported the European Union was in discussions to double the size of its bailout fund. Earlier, stocks seesawed, and were mixed-to-lower in the wake of Standard & Poor's move to put the ratings of 15 eurozone nations on negative watch.
In the end, hopes that European leaders would hash out a solid plan to address the eurozone's debt crisis this Thursday overshadowed the S&P's threatened downgrade. Borrowing costs in Italy retreated from levels seen as "unsustainable." Italy's benchmark Treasury yield was last seen at 5.813%, down from the 7.56% required by investors at Italy's last auction.
At the EU summit, finance ministers and other leaders are expected to discuss a coordinated budgetary process and coherent fiscal oversight.
In end-of-day company news:
Netflix (NFLX) was down after Reuters reported that Verizon (VZ) may be planning a video streaming service to rival NFLX and cable.
Shares of Chevron (CVX) were higher while Bloomberg reports that the company could be fined $84 million by Rio de Janiero for environmental damage due to the oil spill at the company's Frade project off the coast of that country. Also, the company's operations will be monitored for two years, Rio said, according to the report.
Darden Restaurants (DRI) shares were slumping after the company warned on its upcoming quarter. Darden Restaurants said it expects to report fiscal Q2 EPS of $0.41. The Thomson Reuters mean analyst estimate is for $0.54, if comparable. Q2 same-store sales growth is expected at 1.8%.
Apple (AAPL) shares were down, but above day lows after Bloomberg reported that AAPL, along with five e-book publishers, are being investigated by European Union antitrust regulators over deals that may restrict sales across the region.
Merck & Co. (MRK) shares were higher as the company will establish a new Asian research and development headquarters in Beijing. The company will also commit $1.5 billion to conduct R&D in China over the next five years, according to a Reuters report on the matter. MRK shares are up 0.3% to $35.36.
ADRs of U.K. supermarket group Tesco PLC (TSCDY.PK) were down while Reuters reports that the company has lost market share to rivals after launching a price-cutting campaign in October, according to data from researcher Kantar Worldpanel. The researcher said Tesco was the only supermarket chain to see share decline. Testco shares fell from 30.7% last year to 30.5% this year, the data said.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (PPHM) was sharply higher after reporting preliminary results from a randomized Phase II trial showing a 50% improvement in overall tumor response rates in non-small cell lung cancer patients.
Shares of Bank of America (BAC) were higher while The Wall Street Journal reports BAC's Merrill Lynch unit has agreed to pay $315 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged misrepresentations in how it marketed mortgage loan-backed securities.
Commodities finished mixed as crude oil managed to finish atop $101 a barrel while gold slipped 0.2% along with the U.S. dollar.
Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery finished up 0.3% to $101.28 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil was up 0.71% to $3.01 a gallon while natural gas was up 0.69% to $3.48 per million British thermal units.
Meanwhile, gold futures finished lower following Standard & Poor's warning of a downgrade on 15 European countries.
Gold for February delivery finished down 0.2% to $1,731.80 an ounce. In other metal futures, silver was up 1.01% to $32.70 a troy ounce while copper was down 1.29% to $3.56.
Here's where markets stood at end-of-day
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) GE, Upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein
(+) FRO, Plans to split company
(+) LNKD, Upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan
(+) CLWR, To offer $300.0 million of its Class A Common Stock
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) VE, To sell $6.7 billion assets to reduce debt
(-) NS, Selling 5.25 Mln units in offering
(-) DRI, Issues preliminary Q2 EPS below street view
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