Friday's early afternoon trade: summit hopes lift indices

US stocks rose to their highest levels in more than two months on Friday in anticipation of a weekend European Union debt-crisis summit that could potentially remove a major cloud from markets. Hurdles remain to resolving the crisis, and important differences still separate major players France and Germany, but investors apparently took it as a positive that their leaders have set a target date of Wednesday for reaching a solution.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 195.61 points, or 1.69 percent, to 11,737.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 16.94 points, or 1.39 percent, to 1,232.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 28.95 points, or 1.11 percent, to 2,627.57.