NEW YORK: US stocks chalked up solid gains Friday, with the Dow adding more than 2 percent, amid optimism that EU leaders were moving ahead with a comprehensive deal to stabilize the eurozone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 267.01 points (2.31 percent) to 11,808.79 in closing trade.
The broader S&P 500 added 22.86 (1.88 percent) to 1,238.25, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite again lagged the others, rising 38.84 (1.49 percent) to 2,637.46.
Trading higher from the opening bell, stocks got an extra boost in the last hour after EU leaders signaled they had agreed to release another 8.0 billion euros ($11.1 billion) to Greece as a part of the ongoing bailout financing, giving Athens room to avoid a sovereign default for several more months.
Unconfirmed news reports also said that private bank investors had agreed to take 50 percent writedowns on their Greek debt.
But there was still little clarity on how the banks themselves would be strengthened, and how the EU would act to prevent Greece's problems from infecting other weak countries.
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