DOW - Bears shitting liao!

Dow 10,258.99 +284.54 +2.85%

Yahoo Finance

Stocks surged in high volume as market participants showed a willingness to take on risk after China conveyed a sense of confidence in Europe.

A positive tone permeated trade for the entire session. Many media sources said the initial catalyst was a denial by China about possible reviews of European debt holdings. Though that was interpreted as a vote of confidence in the continent that has caused so much concern related to systemic risk amid the persistent fiscal problems of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, the news item doesn't do anything to change circumstances that currently face Europe.

Despite lingering concerns, Europe's major bourses still rallied in excess of 3% and the euro sprinted to a 1.5% gain against the greenback.

Domestic markets shared in the improved sentiment. The upbeat tone persisted for the entire session and even intensified into the close. In turn, the stock market settled at a session high with more than 98% of the names in the S&P 500 closing with a gain.

The strongest move was made by financials. They tacked on a collective gain of 4.5% as insurers and diversified financial services plays spiked.

Energy stocks were also especially strong. The sector climbed 4.2%. Higher oil prices helped as contracts for the energy component closed pit trade with a 4.2% gain at $74.50 per barrel. Oil prices have climbed more than 8% during the course of the past two sessions.

Advancing volume on the NYSE totaled almost 1.4 billion shares, which is close to the average total trading volume for the NYSE over the past 50 sessions. Advancing volume had a near 10-to-1 advantage over declining volume.