Stocks soar on ECB bond-buying effort

Closings are best in 4 years

NEW YORK — Stocks hit four-year highs after the European Central Bank laid out a concrete plan to support the region’s struggling countries through buying bonds.

That set off a global More weather

6D market rally. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 244 points to 13,292, its highest close since December 2007.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index soared 29 points to close at 1,432, the highest since January 2008.

The Nasdaq composite index jumped 66 points to 3,136. That was its highest level in 12 years.

Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, said the new Analyst says ECB’s insistence on “sterilized” purchases could undermine bond program. 1C program will have no set limit on the amount of government bonds it can buy.

The long-anticipated plan to support struggling countries in the European Union jolted investors worldwide. European markets surged. U.S. Treasury bond prices and the dollar dropped as traders sold low-risk investments. All but 13 stocks in the S&P 500 index were up.

The Dow’s 1.8-percent

gain lifted companies based in Memphis. Among the local stocks: International Paper Co. picked up 3.6 percent. First Horizon National Corp. climbed 3.2 percent. FedEx Corp. gained 2.1 percent. AutoZone Inc. rose 1.5 percent.

Nearly four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was 3.9 billion, above the recent average.

“There’s just a sea of green,” said JJ Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief derivatives strategist. “It’s pretty fun.”

Kinahan praised Draghi for two details in the plan. He didn’t declare a limit for the bond-buying program and said it wouldn’t put itself first in line in the event of a default, something investors had been clamoring for. Both details should make other investors more willing to buy government bonds along with the ECB.

“In a situation where it was easy to have a slip-up, it seems like he did everything right,” Kinahan said.