Rumored Europe Relief Sends Up Shares for Lenders

After a drought for good news, markets and mortgage lenders found reason to celebrate Monday with a late-day flood by investors to their stocks. Confidence-boosting measures by government officials led the charge by investors to lenders like ""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/ and ""JPMorgan Chase"":http://careers.jpmorganchase.com/career/careerhome, with central bankers in Europe mustering up an aid package for debt-ridden countries.

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In a helpful sign for the markets, European Union leaders may broaden the European Financial Stability Fund as a way to dig member-states Portugal, Italy, and Greece, among others, out a debt hole, according to ""CNN"":http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/26/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm.

The news service found investors rallying around Bank of America, ""Citigroup"":http://www.citigroup.com/citi/homepage/, JPMorgan, ""Goldman Sachs"":http://www2.goldmansachs.com/, and ""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/. At end of day, the Dow boasted a 272.38-point surge, the highest in recent days, with other indices following suit.

JPMorgan leapt ahead the pack with a 2.06-percent jump in stocks, with shares for the lender closing at $31.65.

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Shares for Citigroup followed close behind, with prices per share wrapping up at $26.72, reflecting a 1.74-percent climb forward.

For Wells Fargo, shares closed at $24.79 after a 4.64-percent gain on the Dow, while those for Goldman Sachs tied off at $99.14 after a 3.96-percent scale-up.

Shares for Bank of America tied off at $6.60 following a 4.60-percent drive into green territory.

CNN quoted ""Joseph Saluzzi"":http://www.themistrading.com/management, co-head of equity trading with ""Themis Trading"":http://www.themistrading.com/, as saying, ""The plan is getting investors excited, but I question if this is sustainable. It's just more hocus pocus and waving a magic wand without addressing the real issues.""

The rally signals something positive for embattled Bank of America in particular. The mortgage giant continues to face a slew of suits from attorneys general, federal agencies, and homeowners over bad mortgage-backed securities it acquired in the Countrywide Financial Corp. purchase.

Stocks and shares quivered in few ways over other news about Bank of America, which the ""_Wall Street Journal_"":http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903791504576588960104768644.html found in talks to sell its correspondent mortgage unit to ""Fortress Investment Group LLC"":http://www.fortressinv.com/, a New York-based private-equity firm.

According to the _Journal_, a unit belonging to Fortress, Texas-based Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., continues to chug along with the still-brittle deal as it concludes due diligence.