from Bloomberg:
U.S. stocks rallied, extending a global advance, as accounting regulators approved a rule change that may boost bank profits and world leaders agreed on measures to fight the recession. Oil rose the most in three weeks, while the dollar and Treasuries fell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average exceeded 8,000 for the first time since Feb. 10. Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. gained at least 7 percent as the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to relax so-called fair-value rules. General Electric Co., Alcoa Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. climbed amid growing speculation the world economy is stabilizing. U.S. stocks increased even as new claims for unemployment insurance benefits jumped to a 26-year high.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 3.6 percent to 840.08 at 11:39 a.m. in New York. The Dow average added 3.4 percent to 8,025.39 and climbed as high as 8,002.46. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rose 4.9 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index soared 4.8 percent, the biggest gain since October.
“Right or wrong, the belief is we may have seen the worst of the economic side of things,” said William Stone, the chief investment strategist in the wealth management unit of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which oversees $110 billion in Philadelphia.
G-20 Meeting
The Group of 20 policy makers, meeting in London, called for stricter limits on hedge funds, executive pay, credit- rating companies and risk-taking by banks. They also boosted the resources of the International Monetary Fund and offered cash to revive trade to help governments weather the economic and social turmoil. They sidestepped the question of whether to deliver more fiscal stimulus in their own economies.
