EU's Greece aid pledge bolster stocks

NEW YORK, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Market's concerns over spreading debt crisis in Europe were somewhat eased after the bloc's leaders pledged to offer Greece aid, if needed, to combat its debt problem.

Investors' sentiment turned around, boosting stocks. Dow put on more than 100 points even without details of the potential rescue.

The Dow Jones rose 105.81, or 1.05 percent, to 10,144.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 10.34, or 0.97 percent, to 1, 078.47 and the Nasdaq composite rallied 29.54, or 1.38 percent, to 2,177.41.

Among the 30 companies consisting the Dow average, 28 stocks rose while two fell on Thursday. European leaders had reached an agreement during their summit on Thursday, saying members would be prepared to step in if needed to help Greece solve its debt issues. EU leaders said that they would "take determined and coordinated action, if needed, to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole."

No further details were expected to be finalized until early next week when EU finance ministers meet, but the EU leaders suggested it could include some form of loans to Greece to help it service its debt and avoid a damaging default.

Concerns over Greece's mounting debt burden, and that of other weak members of the 16-nation euro zone, have been weighing on U.S. stocks for weeks.

Also lifting market sentiment, the Labor Department reported before the opening bell that the number of new filings for jobless benefits fell by 43,000 claims last week, much more than analysts had expected.

In other economic news, U.S. home sales increased 14 percent in the fourth quarter last year as a Federal Reserve program to purchase mortgage bonds and a tax credit for property buyers boosted demand for real estate.

According to a report from the National Association of Realtors released on Thursday, sales of existing single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatively owned apartments rose to 6.03 million at an annualized, seasonally adjusted, rate from 5.29 million in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the median price fell 4.1 percent from a year earlier, dropping in about half of U.S. cities, the report showed.

Oil prices rose for the fourth session on Thursday, settling above 75 dollars a barrel in New York trading. Energy and commodity related stocks got a boost. Alcoa Inc jumped 3.19 percent to 13.58 dollars a share. U.S. Steel Corp rallied 5.95 percent to 47.01 dollars.

In earnings front, Philip Morris International Inc jumped 4 percent to 48.67 dollars after the company posted a stronger-than- expected fourth-quarter profit and announced a 12 billion-dollar share repurchase plan.

Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc gained 9.6 percent to 11.07 dollars as the company's results beat forecasts and it planed to start paying an annual dividend.

Caterpillar Inc and 3M Co. are among Dow's top gainers on Thursday. Caterpillar rose 5.2 percent to 55.94 dollars, while 3M rose 2.1 percent to 80.27 dollars after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the company to "outperform" from "market-perform."