Wall St higher as investors bet on Greece plan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rebounded from three days of losses on Monday as investors bet there would be a near-term resolution to some of the uncertainty over Greece's fiscal crisis, but the absence of a firm plan could limit the market's upside.
The Greek parliament will begin to debate a deeply unpopular austerity program that must be approved in order to get the next bailout payment. A Greek minister warned of "catastrophe" if the measure is not passed in a vote later this week.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his government had an agreement with French banks on rolling over Greek debt into new 30-year bonds, which helped ease tensions around the region.
Traders see a Greek sovereign default as unlikely, and the S&P 500 holding its 200-day moving average was viewed as a sign of technical support following two months of heavy selling that brought the index down about 7 percent.
"There's still a lot of fear out there, but the absence of bad news over the past few days, coupled with the selloff late Friday, is creating a bounce now," said Mitch Rubin, chief investment officer at RiverPark Advisors in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 89.80 points, or 0.75 percent, at 12,024.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 8.33 points, or 0.66 percent, at 1,276.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.56 points, or 0.93 percent, at 2,677.45.
Financials, which have been pressured by the ongoing euro-zone sovereign debt crisis, were among the day's biggest gainers, with the S&P financial index up 1.1 percent. Bank of America Corp climbed 2.6 percent to $10.79.
In the latest economic data, U.S. consumer spending was unchanged in May, according to a government report, while a reading on Midwest manufacturing rose slightly in May from the prior month. Futures barely moved after the data.
August crude futures fell 0.5 percent, continuing a drop of more than 5 percent in less than a week.
"The speculative money is coming out of oil, and that could wind up being another catalyst to getting the markets moving," Rubin said. "It should make gas prices a little more temperate, which will help the consumer."
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co shares slid 1.7 percent to $28.59 and U.S.-listed shares of AstraZeneca Plc lost 1.4 percent to $48.31 after a new type of diabetes pill they are developing was found effective in a two-year study but led to more bladder and breast cancers.
Continucare Corp climbed 32 percent to $6.28 after primary healthcare provider Metropolitan Health Networks Inc offered to buy the rival for about $416 million. Metropolitan fell 7.6 percent to $4.51.
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)