Stocks were enjoying a very positive day on the back of the Treasury's plan to purchase troubled assets from the banks, which is aimed at financing as much as $1 trillion in purchases of illiquid real-estate assets.
The long-awaited announcement provides the details on a strategy outlined by Treasury secretary Tim Geithner on Feb. 10. At the time, Mr. Geithner’s speech lacked the specifics that investors were looking for, and the S&P 500 is still down about 10% since then. Mr. Geithner had also come under increasing pressure from international finance ministers during the G20 meeting earlier this month to provide the plan's exact workings.
In recent trade, the DOW was moving higher by 4.36%. The broader S&P was moving ahead by 4.48% and the NASDAQ by 4.12%.
The dollar was trading mixed but was mostly in risk-acceptance mode, with declines of 0.27% to the euro and 1.54% on Australia's currency as it gained 1.32% on the yen (which happens when stocks are bought) and 0.11% on sterling (which doesn't).
Crude for April delivery was recently trading up $1.60 while gold was moving lower by $5.80.