Bank Shares Lift on News of a Europe Bailout Deal

Stocks and shares for mortgage lenders and homebuilding companies got swept into a market updraft following news reports that major European economies had agreed to bail out their Mediterranean counterparts.

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With the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 300 points, mortgage lenders and homebuilding companies saw erstwhile sagging numbers for their stocks float upward.

""Citigroup"":http://www.citigroup.com/citi/homepage/ led the way forward, with stocks for the mortgage giant leaping ahead by 7.55 percent to close shares at $26.49 each. Coming in second, ""Wells Fargo"":https://www.wellsfargo.com/ tied off its shares at $26.13 each following a 6.48-percent upward shot.

""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/ followed with $6.28 for each of its shares in the wake of a 6.44-percent surge into positive territory. Of these, ""JPMorgan Chase"":http://www.jpmorgan.com/pages/jpmorgan finished with a 5.21-percent rise, closing shares at $32.30 each.

Homebuilding companies, bereft of good news for some time, also saw their fortunes rise with those of others. ""KBH Homes"":http://www.kbhhomes.com/ finished the day with a 5.20-percent jump to close at $6.47 for each share,

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while ""D.R. Horton"":http://www.drhorton.com/ accelerated to $9.64 per share at a 5.13-percent forward dash. ""Beazer Homes"":http://www.beazer.com/ rose by 4.08 percent to close shares at $1.53.

Several weeks of speculation trail the news, with investors fleeing, then returning to shares and stocks on wobbly notions that Europe's two biggest economies, France and Germany, will pull debt-ridden laggards Greece, Italy, and potentially others away from a default scenario.

""_Reuters_"":http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/markets-britain-stocks-idUSL5E7LA0TY20111010 reported Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrapped a high-level discussion in Berlin with several takeaways.

The news service said that these included a pledge to develop a sustainable bailout package for Greece, come to a consensus about how best to recapitalize European banks, and rein in concerns about the euro by coordinating economic policies before the G20 summit in November.

Stocks and shares for the day are the least of the nation's economic worries if European financial institutions tumble.

In a ""past story"":https://themreport.com/articles/how-european-debt-debacle-could-stifle-housing-2011-08-12, ""Paul Dales"":http://www.capitaleconomics.com/staff/global-economics/paul-dales.html, a senior U.S. economist with ""Capital Economics"":http://www.capitaleconomics.com/, told _MReport_ that crimped markets overseas could undermine housing by offsetting record lows for mortgage rates with a debt contagion that forces U.S. banks to clamp up.

""_The New York Times_"":http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/business/global/eu-delays-high-level-meeting.html offered up a story that showed celebrations may yet be premature, as it reported that ""Herman Van Rompuy"":http://www.european-council.europa.eu/the-president.aspx, head of the ""European Council"":http://www.european-council.europa.eu/home-page.aspx?lang=en, pushed back the meeting that Merkel and Sarkozy would use to negotiate terms in their financial rescue plan for Greece.

The _Times_ quoted Van Rompuy as justifying the delay by describing the need ""to finalize our comprehensive strategy on the euro area sovereign debt crisis covering a number of interrelated issues.""