WASHINGTON — Government actions in China and Europe on Monday raised hopes that the turmoil in the global banking sector may soon ease, also helping lift a factor that has been weighing heavily against U.S. economic growth.
The Chinese government announced Monday that it would buy additional shares of China’s four biggest banks in order to boost a sagging stock market and restore confidence.
Meanwhile, tiny Belgium nationalized the domestic operations of the bank Dexia, beginning the process of selling off its business units.
In normal times, those actions would be seen as negatives, confirmations of how bad things are in the banking sector.
But on Monday they were taken as positives, signs that after months of dithering, government were finally moving to resolve long-standing problems.
Stock markets rose around the world, with the Dow Jones industrial average in the United States jumping 330.06 points or 3 percent, to 11,433.18.
The euro jumped by about 2 percent against the U.S. dollar, a sign investors were less skittish about its stability.
Meanwhile, Malta’s Parliament has approved expanding the powers of the European bailout fund, leaving Slovakia as the only euro-using country not to approve the plan.
