The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 259.89 points, or 2.2 percent, to 12,153.68. It closed below 12,000 the previous two days. Friday’s rally pushed the Dow up 1.4 percent for the week.
Together with a 112-point gain the day before, the Dow has now made up most of the 389-point plunge it took on Wednesday. That sell-off was triggered by the spike in Italy’s borrowing costs and a breakdown in talks to name a new prime minister in Greece.
In Greece, too, there was good news for the markets Friday. Lucas Papademos, a former central banker, was sworn in as interim prime minister. Lucas Papademos took over a coalition government after a two-week political crisis that jeopardized the country’s ability to continue receiving emergency loans.
Plenty of uncertainty still hangs over financial markets. Brian Gendreau, senior investment strategist at Cetera Financial Group, noted that the VIX index is still above 30, a sign that traders expect stocks to stay volatile.
Gendreau expects the S&P 500 to trade in a range of 1,200 to 1,275 until Europe’s debt crisis gets closer to resolution and the U.S. Congress signs off on a larger debt-cutting plan. A supercommittee in Congress has until Nov. 23 to agree on a deficit-reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion over a decade.
“We still don’t have a real resolution on either side of the Atlantic,’’ Gendreau said.
The S&P 500 rose 24.16, or 1.9 percent, to 1,263.85. Only 13 of the 500 stocks in the S&P fell. Technology and materials companies had the biggest gains. The S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent for the week.
Walt Disney Co. jumped 6 percent. The company reported record annual profits and revenue after the market closed Thursday, thanks to stronger advertising sales at ESPN and the Disney Channel.
The Nasdaq composite rose 53.60, or 2 percent, to 2,678.75. The index edged down 0.3 percent for the week.
