NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks held firm near recent five-month highs on Wednesday as investors awaited key bond market tests for Europe in the next two days that could determine the direction of the euro zone crisis. U.S. equities have been performing better in the face of turmoil from Europe’s sovereign debt problems. This is [...]

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:44am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose on Thursday after a sharp drop in the last session but elevated Italian bond yields and a weak reading on jobless claims capped gains. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 51.77 points, or 0.43 percent, to 12,203.18. The Standard [...]

LONDON (Reuters) – European stocks and the euro firmed on Wednesday, enjoying a brief surge after banks borrowed around $489 billion euros from the European Central Bank at its first-ever offer of three-year loans on hopes it will be a significant step toward easing the region’s two-year old debt crisis.   The ECB has indicated [...]

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s major central banks acted jointly on Wednesday to provide cheaper dollar funding to European banks facing a credit crunch as the euro zone’s debt crisis drove EU ministers to urge more IMF help to avert financial disaster. The emergency move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and [...]