The yield on the Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose as the Federal Reserve’s bond buying program ended and investors poured money into equities.
The Dow industrials closed up 152.92 points, or 1.25 percent, at 12,414.34. Although stocks tumbled for most of the month of June, a surge of 480 points this week helped give the Dow a gain of about 0.7 percent for the second quarter.
The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index rose 13.23 points, or 1.01 percent, to 1,320.64, while the Nasdaq composite index was up 33.03 points, or 1.21 percent, at 2,773.52. Both the S. P. and the Nasdaq were slightly lower for the quarter.
For the first half of 2010, the Dow gained 7.2 percent, the S. P. rose 5 percent and the Nasdaq increased 4.6 percent.
Stocks climbed Thursday after a vote in the Greek Parliament enabled the country to begin cuts in spending and steps to raise revenue. German banks also agreed to take part in a plan to aid Greece by accepting longer maturities some of the Greek bonds that they hold.
Although analysts said the news had already been largely factored into stock prices, it was still enough to lift sentiment in Europe and the United States.
“This week’s developments hardly mark an end to the economic crisis afflicting Europe, or Greece, for that matter,” said Kevin H. Giddis, the executive managing director and president for fixed-income capital markets at Morgan Keegan Company. “But at least the can has been kicked down the road,” he wrote in an economic commentary.
In economic news, a barometer of manufacturing, the Chicago purchasing managers index, recorded an unexpectedly strong increase to 61.1 in June, above market expectations for a decline to 54, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.
Analysts saw the rise as an indication of stronger-than-expected new orders in the region, which includes the crucial automobile manufacturing sector.
Employment indicators remained weak, however, with initial claims for unemployment benefits at a still-high 428,000 in the latest week, according to a report from the Labor Department report.
Stocks in sectors including energy, materials, technology and industrial stocks, all pushed ahead by more than 1 percent on Thursday.
Exxon rose 1.4 percent to $81.38. The chip maker Intel gained 3.6 percent to $22.16. Caterpillar rose 3 percent to $106.46, and General Electric rose 1.6 percent to $18.86.
The Treasury’s 10-year note declined for a fourth consecutive trading day Thursday as the Fed’s bond buying program, known as QE2, drew to a close. The note fell 10/32, to 99 23/32, and the yield rose to 3.16 percent from 3.12 percent late Wednesday.
“There is a lot of concern about quantitative easing and who is going to be the buyer” now that the Fed has withdrawn, said Laura LaRosa, director of fixed income at the investment firm Glenmede.
Economists and investors continue to debate how much the Fed’s quantitative easing program helped the economy. But traders said it had been a boon for the stock market.
The S. P. has risen more than 20 percent since last August when the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, first indicated in a speech that a new round of quantitative easing was likely to be adopted to help the economy.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=29da9634cf7260b1bbe144caf61e98ab
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