Wells Fargo, Citigroup gains lift Wall Street

Dow Jones:12,190.01 (+109.63) Nasdaq: 2,687.26 (+57.60) S&P 500:1,295.52 (+17.16)

US STOCKS advanced yesterday, as concern about Greece’s debt crisis eased.

Wells Fargo and Citigroup rose at least 1.8 per cent, following a rally in European banks, as Greece’s government faces a confidence vote that may determine whether it avoids a default.

Caterpillar, Alcoa and Hewlett-Packard added more than 0.8 per cent, pacing gains among companies most tied to economic growth.

Best Buy climbed 2.7 per cent as the largest consumer electronics retailer set a $5 billion share repurchase plan and raised its quarterly dividend.

The S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent to 1,295.52 in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 109.63 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 12,190.01.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.2 per cent to 2,687.26.

“We expect the confidence vote in Greece to go well,” said Philip Orlando, the New York-based chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors.

“We’re starting to put some of the major building blocks into place to resolve the Greece situation. If you can stop the bleeding, that stops the dominoes from falling. That begins to take some of the contagion risk off the table,” he said.

Stocks rose across the globe amid growing investor optimism that yesterday’s vote of confidence in Greek prime minister George Papandreou is likely to determine how soon the nation can win international aid to shore up its finances.

Benchmark gauges and a measure of homebuilders in SP indexes rallied even as a report showed that sales of existing US homes fell in May to the lowest level in six months.

Purchases of existing homes fell 3.8 per cent to a 4.81 million annual pace last month, in line with the 4.8 million median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

During the session, the Nasdaq got a lift from US-traded shares of Research In Motion, which gained 10.3 per cent to $28.55 after falling about 7 per cent on Monday.

Walgreen fell 4.2 per cent to $43.28 after it failed to renew a deal with pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts. Express Scripts shares rose 0.4 per cent to $54.99. – (Bloomberg/Reuters)