Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Dow briefly touched 13,000 for the first time since May 2008 but some selling the afternoon pushed U.S. indexes from morning highs; the Dow finished at 12,965.7. The S&P 500 was up less than 0.1% while the NASDAQ fell 0.1%
The price of oil settled at $106.25, up $2.65 for the day and its highest level since last May as worries about Iran continued. Metals prices jumped because of expectations that demand may improve after China cut reserve requirements for its banks. Silver finished up 3.7% and gold added 1.9%.
Germany fell 0.6%, Britain 0.3%, and France 0.2%.
- After much wrangling, agreement for a new round of bailouts for Greece were finalized. Greece will get €130 billion, or about $172 billion, from other European nations and the International Monetary Fund. In a separate deal, investors in Greek bonds will be asked to forgive €107 billion in debt. Greece's bond investors will take a 53.5 percent loss on the face value of their bonds. The deal is expected to bring Greece's debt down to 120.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.
Chinese stocks gained 0.8% while Japanese stocks dropped 0.2%.
- China's central bank said it will lower the ratio of funds Chinese banks must hold as reserves. The policy change is designed to free up more money for lending as a way to promote economic growth. It was the second time in two months that China's central bank has cut reserve requirements.