NEW YORK — Stocks had their biggest gains in more than two weeks Monday after European officials vowed to take action to resolve the region’s debt problems.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 272 points, making up about a third of last week’s losses.
Financial officials met in Washington over the weekend and pledged to take bolder steps to fight Europe’s debt crisis, which threatens to slow the global economy. President Barack Obama called on European leaders to move more quickly to address the crisis.
German leaders want banks and private institutions that hold Greek bonds to take a bigger loss on those holdings to reduce Greece’s debt burden.
European officials have talked about increasing the size of Europe’s $595 billion rescue fund by allowing it to take loans from the European Central Bank. Pressure is also mounting for the central bank to lower interest rates.
“The news leaking out of Europe is giving investors hope that the politicians and central bankers in Europe might be putting together a plan,” said Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors. “The devil’s in the details.”
The Dow Jones shot up 272.38 points, or 2.5 percent, to close at 11,043.86. It was the biggest gain since Sept. 7. JPMorgan Chase jumped 7 percent, to $31.65, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 26.52, or 2.3 percent, to 1,162.95, with financial stocks picking up 4.4 percent. The Nasdaq composite rose 33.46, or 1.4 percent, to 2,516.69.
Investors have been on edge about Europe’s debt problems for months. The Dow plunged 6.4 percent last week, its biggest drop since the week ended Oct. 10, 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
The market’s volatility has made many investors nervous. Since the first week of August, the Dow has closed up or down more than 200 points 16 times. There were four swings of 200 points or more in the first seven months of 2011.
Obama said in a town-hall meeting that Europe’s financial crisis “is scaring the world” and that the actions the region’s leaders have taken so far “haven’t been as quick as they need to be.”
Greece is at risk of defaulting on its debt next month if it does not receive the next installment of a bailout package. If that happens, banks that hold Greek bonds would lose money.
Analysts also worry that the economies in Europe and the U.S. could slip into another recession.
