Stock Market Watch

Stocks End Q2 on a Strong Note as EU Deal Lifts Sentiments

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Stocks ended the second quarter on a strong note, with all three major indexes posting huge gains on the final trading day of the quarter. Stocks surged as investors cheered a surprise EU deal to support euro zone’s struggling banks.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 also posted their best June gain in 13 years. Nasdaq posted its best June gain in 12 years.


In today’s trading, the Dow Jones ended 2.20% higher at 12,880.09, the S&P 500 ended 2.49% higher at 1,362.16, and the Nasdaq ended 3% higher at 2,935.05.

For the month of June, the Dow Jones rose 3.93%, the S&P 500 rose 3.96%, and the Nasdaq rose 3.81%.For the quarter, Dow Jones fell 2.51%, the S&P 500 fell 3.28%, and the Nasdaq fell 5.06%.

After posting record gains in the first quarter, the second quarter turned out to be disappointing as concerns over euro zone debt crisis and slowdown in the global economy weighed down investors’ sentiment. However, markets got a huge boost right at the end of the quarter as EU leaders, at a summit in Brussels, agreed to use euro zone rescue funds to stabilize bond markets and also support region’s ailing banks.

The agreement came as a huge surprise as expectations were quite low ahead of the summit. It will be interesting to see if the concrete measures taken by euro zone leaders will help in containing the debt crisis.

European markets also surged today, with the FTSE 100 Index in London closing 1.42% higher, and the CAC 40 Index in Paris closing 4.75% higher. Earlier, Asian markets also finished mostly higher, with the Nikkei 225 Index in Japan closing 1.50% higher.

In the U.S., all sectors in the S&P 500 surged today. Among the major gainers in trading today were Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), which ended the day 5.68% higher at $8.18, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), which ended the day 2.97% higher at $85.57, and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which ended the day 2.63% higher at $584.

 

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.

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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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