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Roundup: U.S. stocks rebound strongly as Greek jitters ease

Xinhua, May 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks bounced back from Tuesday's sell-off on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite Index setting its third closing record for 2015, boosted by improvement in the Greek debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 121.45 points, or 0.67 percent, to 18,162.99. The S&P 500 advanced 19.28 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,123.48. The Nasdaq surged 73.84 points, or 1.47 percent, to 5,106.59.

With no major economic data due Wednesday, investors shifted their attention to the Greek debt situation. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed optimism Wednesday that Greece and its creditors were close to reaching a deal on the future handling of the Greek debt crisis after four months of tough negotiations.

"We're in the final stretch; we're close to a deal," the Leftist leader said after a meeting of his government's economic team at the Finance Ministry, amidst media reports in Athens that a positive result could come by next Monday on time to secure international funding for the debt-laden country to avoid a potential credit event in June.

On June 5 Greece needs to repay a 300-million-euro loan installment to the International Monetary Fund, after paying pensions and salaries to public servants this week.

European equities ended sharply higher at the news, with the French benchmark index CAC 40 surging 1.95 percent.

In corporate news, Tiffany shares soared 10.53 percent to 94.54 dollars apiece Wednesday after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results.

The jewelry retailer's net earnings declined 17 percent to 81 cents per diluted share on revenue of 962.4 million dollars for its latest quarter. Wall Street had expected the company to report earnings of 70 cents per share on 919 million dollars in revenue, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Michael Kors announced its financial results for the fourth quarter ending March 28, 2015. The company's quarterly total revenue increased 17.8 percent to 1.1 billion dollars, essentially in line with expectations.

However, the luxury brand reported its slowest sales growth in three and a half years, and its full-year forecast is below market estimates as well. Its shares plummeted 24.20 percent to 45.93 dollars apiece Wednesday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell 5.62 percent to end at 13.27 Wednesday.

In other markets, oil prices declined on Wednesday as Iraq planned to raise crude exports.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery lost 52 cents to settle at 57.51 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery moved down 1.66 dollars to close at 62.06 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar was mixed against other currencies Wednesday as Greek fears abated.

In late New York trading, the euro moved up to 1.089 dollars from 1.0872 dollars in the previous session. The greenback bought 123.84 Japanese yen, higher than 123.05 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell for the fourth straight session on Wednesday as the U.S. Dollar continued to rise, putting pressure on the precious metal.

The most active gold contract for June delivery lost 1.3 dollars, or 0.11 percent, to settle at 1,185.60 dollars per ounce. Endite