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U.S. stocks rise on Greece deal hopes

Xinhua, February 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks jumped at midday Tuesday, as speculation grew that Greece will reach a compromise with its creditors.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 62.07 points, or 0.35 percent, to 17,791.28. The S&P 500 gained 9.79 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,056.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 34. 07 points, or 0.72 percent, to 4,760.09.

Wall Street was boosted by developments in the Greece-euro impasse. According to Greek Finance Ministry sources, Greece's new government was confident that a bridge agreement could be reached in next week's euro group meeting and a final deal on the resolution of the Greek debt load could follow in September.

On the economic front, U.S. job openings registered 5.03 million in December, above 5 million for the first time since January 2001, beating market expectations, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that U.S. Small Business Optimism Index fell to 97.9 in January from December's 9-year high of 100.4.

In corporate news, Coca-Cola Co. shares rose nearly 3 percent around midday Tuesday after the world's largest beverage maker reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The company's fourth quarter earnings per share were 17 cents, and its global volume growth was 2 percent for the full year of 2014.

Qualcomm shares climbed over 4 percent Tuesday after the chip maker announced late Monday that it reached a deal with the Chinese government over the anti-trust probe. Chinese authorities imposed a fine of 6.09 billion yuan (about 994 million U.S. dollars) on the company, the largest anti-trust penalty in the country. Endite