Why the Dow Popped Today (^DJI)

Why the Dow Popped Today

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI ) rose throughout the day to end at its highest level since July. The S&P 500 was also up and crossed the 1,300 mark, which it also hasn't been seen since July.

Index	Change	Ending Value
Dow Jones Industrial Average	+96.88 [0.78%]	12,578.95
S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC )	+14.37 [1.11%]	1,308.04

What caused stocks to climb?

1. We saw above-expectations earnings from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) , which eased investor fears over U.S. banks' fourth-quarter earnings. Dow component JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM ) reported bad earnings earlier this week, which had investors fearing the worst for Goldman and leaving them jittery as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) reports tomorrow. With the positive news, both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were up today -- 4.7% and 4.94%, respectively.

2. The IMF announced today that it wants to raise billions of dollars, nearly $500 billion, to better counter the European debt crisis.

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Fool contributor Dan Dzombak owns shares of Bank of America, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Check out his holdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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updated 2 hours ago Sponsored by:
	DOW	12,938.67	-27.02	-0.21%
	S&P 500	1,357.66	-4.55	-0.33%
	NASD	2,933.17	-15.40	-0.52%

^DJI	$12938.67		-27.02	-0.21%
DOW JONES INDUSTR…		CAPS Rating:

GS	$114.36		-2.27	-1.95%
Goldman Sachs Grou…		CAPS Rating:

JPM	$38.07		-0.39	-1.01%
JPMorgan Chase & C…		CAPS Rating:

^GSPC	$1357.66		-4.55	-0.33%
S&P 500 INDEX		CAPS Rating:

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Why the Dow Popped Today

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