Stocks End Up, Pushing Dow Above 12,000

Dow

12,036.53

+178.01

+1.50%

By: Abby Schultz, JeeYeon Park

Stocks finished up 1.5 percent or higher, sending the Dow back above 12,000, lifted by AT&T's $39 billion planned purchase of Deutsche Telecom's T-Mobile USA and investors who found buying opportunities in stocks they viewed as oversold.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 178.01 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 12,036.53. The blue-chip index finished lower last week, but it has gained 423.23 points, or 3.6 percent, in the last three sessions.


The S&P 500 rose 19.18 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 1,298.38. For the last three sessions, the broad market index gained 41.50 points, or 3.3 percent. The Nasdaq rose 48.42 points, or 1.83 percent, to close at 2,692.09. The tech-heavy index gained 75.27 points or 2.9 percent, in the past three sessions.


The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, plunged more than 15 percent to below 21.