Rumors out of Europe ignited the markets.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,075, +187.7, +1.4%
S&P 500: 1,385, +25.9, +1.9%
NASDAQ: 2,958, +64.8, +2.2%
And now the top stories:
- Earlier this morning, French newspaper Le Monde reported that the European Central Bank was preparing to purchase Italian and Spanish government bonds in an effort to lower the funding costs for those debt-laden countries. However, experts were skeptical of such claims because it appeared that Germany's Bundesbank would likely stand in the way. FORGET THE RALLY: 10 Terrible Facts About Spain >
- Late in the trading day, Bloomberg broke that ECB president Mario Draghi would be meeting with Bundesbank head Jens Wiedmann within the next few days to mull over options that could be taken to help the Eurozone. Options under consideration include "bond purchases on primary/secondary market, new [long-term refinancing operation], rate cut" according to Bloomberg's John Fraher. All of this seemed to confirm the earlier news.
- Of course, there were skeptics. Hedge funder John Taylor thinks the euro crisis is only in the earliest innings. Economist David Rosenberg thinks that Draghi just uttered his famous last words. Rosenberg was referring to Draghi's Thursday comment that the ECB would do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro."
- We learned that GDP growth decelerated to 1.5 percent in Q2, down from 2.0 percent growth in Q1. The number was slightly higher than the 1.4 percent growth rate economists were looking for. Personal consumption expenditures were strong, growing 1.5 percent.
- Morgan Stanley's David Greenlaw said there weren't any big surprises in the report. He acknowledged that the economy continues to be anemic. But he also said it wasn't weak enough to force the Federal Reserve to announce any new actions at their Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week.
- And then there was Facebook. The social network had its first earnings announcement yesterday, and they just barely cleared analysts' low expectations. The stock booked a double-digit loss. SEE ALSO: 11 Signs That A Company Is Lying In Its Earnings Announcement >
- Don't Miss: The Best Advice From The Most Brilliant Investors In History >
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