Markets move higher Monday on news of Spanish bailout

New York, N.Y., United States (4E) – Markets around the globe rallied Monday following news of aid for Spain’s ailing banks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 73 points right out of the gate, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 5 points and the NASDAQ tacked on 10.

United States markets Monday are coming off their best week of 2012.

Also buoying stocks was encouraging weekend economic data from China. Asian markets ended the day higher and European equities were up in early afternoon trading.

Global markets cheered news Saturday that Spain will receive as much as $125 billion to shore up its struggling banking sector.

The news sent the euro advancing versus the dollar and the yen. But details of the bailout plan for Spanish banks have yet to be finalized and analysts warn the initial optimism in financial markets could be short lived.

Also in focus this week is Greece, which holds elections on Sunday.

In China, the government issued a couple of reports that seemed to give hope that further stimulus to the economy could be forthcoming.

On Saturday, the Chinese government said that inflation eased to a 3 percent annual rate in May, the fourth consecutive month of prices below percent.

On Sunday, the government noted the May trade surplus was $18.7 billion, edged higher by both record imports and exports.

In early Monday trading, oil added a dollar a barrel to $85. Gold dropped $9.40 to $1,585.30 a troy ounce.

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