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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks surge as overseas worries ease

Xinhua, July 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks soared on Friday as hopes of a Greek debt deal and rallies in global stock markets cheered Wall Street sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 211.79 points, or 1.21 percent, to 17,760.41. The S&P 500 leapt 25.31 points, or 1.23 percent, to 2,076.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index spiked 75.30 points, or 1.53 percent, to 4,997.70.

A senior European Union official said at a briefing on Friday that a list of proposed "prior actions" from Greece was received by the Eurogroup Thursday night and the European institutions have access to it.

"On 10 a.m. Saturday (0800 GMT), the Euro working group will look at the assessment of the institutions about the prior actions to see if conditions are met," the official said.

He added that if Saturday's Eurogroup meeting led to an agreement, there would be no summit on Sunday; and if no agreement, the consequences were "quite clear".

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann expressed cautious optimism for a solution to the Greek crisis in a statement Friday.

"There is still no result, but the chance of agreement exists and this chance must be utilized seriously," he said in regard to the new last-minute proposals from Greece to secure a third bailout.

European equities ended sharply higher Friday on Greece news, with French benchmark index CAC 40 spiking 3.07 percent.

In Asia, Chinese shares staged a strong two-day rebound after moves by the government to bolster the market. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index leaped 4.54 percent on Friday, while the Shenzhen Component Index surged 4.59 percent.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said at the City Club of Cleveland, Ohio on Friday that she expected the Fed to raise interest rates at some point this year.

"But I want to emphasize that the course of the economy and inflation remains highly uncertain, and unanticipated developments could delay or accelerate this first step," she added.

Yellen stressed that the initial increase in the federal funds rate, whenever it occurs, will by itself have only a very small effect on the overall level of monetary accommodation provided by the Federal Reserve. Endite