Stocks surge on effort to ease Europe
debt crunch NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks rocketed to
their biggest gain in a year and bond prices fell Monday after a nearly $1
trillion plan to contain Europe's debt crisis reassured investors. The Dow Jones industrial average rose
about 405 points to its biggest advance since March 2009. Broader U.S. indexes
outpaced the Dow's 3.9 percent rise. Gains in several European markets topped 9
percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year
Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.55 percent from 3.43
percent late Friday. The drop in demand for safety holdings like Treasurys
signaled that investors are less afraid that Europe's debt problems will spoil
a global recovery. AP IMPACT: Market gains set up CEO pay
bonanza NEW YORK (AP) -- America's top CEOs are
set for a once-in-a-lifetime pay bonanza. Most of them got their annual stock
compensation early last year when the stock market was at a 12-year low. And
companies doled out more stock and options than usual because grants from the
previous year had fallen so much in value that many people thought they'd never
be worth anything. But stock prices have generally surged
ever since. Even with last week's sharp declines, CEOs still have enormous
gains on paper. MIAMI (AP) -- The lengthy gap between the Japanese
and U.S. recalls -- strikingly similar to The agency has now linked 16 crashes,
three deaths and seven injuries to the steering rod defect, the agency told AP
in a statement. SEC: Exchanges agree in principle to
new rules WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leaders for
major securities exchanges have agreed in principle to a uniform system of
"circuit breakers" that would slow trading during periods of intense
market volatility, federal regulators said Monday. The agreement has been reached by
leaders of six exchanges, including the One possible trigger for last week's
historic stock market plunge was the absence of a uniform system. Trillion-dollar euro rescue won't solve
low growth BRUSSELS (AP) -- A $1 trillion rescue
for the euro has halted market panic in its tracks for now, but may not be
enough to save the shared currency in the end. After weeks of dithering, the European
Union finally put serious money on the table to prevent its government debt
crisis from mushrooming and sinking the euro, stocks and the global recovery. But the EU still needs to find ways to
keep its member governments from spending their way to bankruptcy and
disastrously handing the others the bill, as Greece did to start the crisis. Ultimately, it needs to get its
sluggish economy going if it wants to end the threat to its cherished currency
union. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The rescue of Fannie and Freddie is
turning out to be one of the most expensive aftereffects of the financial
meltdown, and Late last year, the Obama
administration pledged to cover unlimited losses through 2012 for Fannie and
Freddie, lifting an earlier cap of $400 billion. Coffee, McNuggets fuel McDonald's April
increases CHICAGO (AP) -- Icy coffee drinks and
chicken nuggets lured McDonald's Corp. customers to spend more in April,
boosting a key performance measure, the fast-food chain said Monday. Around the globe, sales in locations
open at least a year rose 4.9 percent last month. In the U.S., the figure
climbed 3.8 percent. That's slightly less than the gains
made in March, when the measure rose 4.2 percent, but was still the second-best
posting in a year for the company's American business. APNewsBreak: Feds expand scrutiny of
kids' jewelry LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal regulators
announced another recall of children's jewelry with high levels of the toxic
metal cadmium Monday, also saying they've expanded their investigation in an
effort to keep dangerous items off store shelves in the first place. A spokesman for the U.S. Word of increased scrutiny came as the
agency announced the voluntary recall of about 19,000 "Best Friends"
charm bracelet sets made in China and sold exclusively at the jewelry and
accessories store Claire's, which has more than 3,000 stores in North America
and Europe. Ex-Auto czar says Chrysler, GM exceed
expectations DETROIT (AP) -- Former U.S. auto task
force head Steven Rattner said Monday that Rattner said both companies have
exceeded the federal government's metrics in sales and restructuring. Both GM and Chrysler received billions
in federal aid and went through bankruptcy protection last year. Twitter bug lets users fake followers SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A Twitter
glitch has allowed users to game the popularity contest by making it appear
that celebrities had subscribed to read their mini-blog postings known as
tweets. The flaw, which Twitter said Monday it
has fixed, allowed users to add anyone else as a follower of their tweets.
Normally, the other person has to initiate such "following." It's unclear how long the flaw existed
and how many people took advantage of it. Twitter Inc. says it's looking at the
issue. A side effect of the fix was that for
about an hour on Monday, Twitter users showed zero followers while the company
fixed the problem. By The Associated Press The Dow Jones industrial average rose
404.71, or 3.9 percent, to 10,785.14. At its peak, the Dow was up nearly 455
points. The climb was the biggest since March 2009, when the market was
bouncing off its lowest levels in 12 years. The Standard & Poor's 500 index
rose 48.85, or 4.4 percent, to 1,159.73. The Benchmark crude for June delivery rose $1.69
to settle at $76.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was as high as
$87.15 a week ago. In other Nymex trading in June
contracts, heating oil rose 4.07 cents to settle at $2.1202 a gallon, and
gasoline added 4.75 cents to settle at $2.1726 a gallon. Natural gas gained
15.5 cents to settle at $4.170 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude climbed $1.85 to
settle at $80.12 on the ICE futures exchange.