NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening sharply higher on hopes that European leaders are moving closer to a plan to contain that region’s debt crisis.
Greece’s finance minister said Tuesday that the country would receive the next round of bailout loans in time to avoid a default.
Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel also said her country would do whatever it could to help Greece regain investors’ confidence. Merkel and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou are expected to discuss ways to solve the debt crisis later in the day.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 208 points, or 1.9 percent, at 11,255. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 22, or 1.9 percent, at 1,186. The Nasdaq composite is up 42, or 1.7 percent, at 2,558.
