Yesterday, the stock market lost its mind, rising amid huge amounts of bad news. As fellow Fool Andrew Tonner pointed out, investors were perversely hoping that the news would get bad enough to lure the Federal Reserve and other central banks into providing more help for the increasingly troubled European economy. That attitude circled the globe today, with major European markets higher today after an announcement that European central banks are ready to provide liquidity following the Greek elections this weekend. In the U.S., the Dow Jones (INDEX: ^DJI) continued its big boost from yesterday, rising another 67 points to 12,720 just after 10:45 a.m. EDT.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose almost 2% after reports that it's moving into the enterprise side of social media by buying Yammer for $1.2 billion. The move is the latest evidence of the shift away from consumer-targeted social media after the terrible reception that Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) IPO got, as focusing on businesses appears to have a greater chance of monetizing social services more easily.

But financial stocks didn't hold up as well, as both Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) were slightly lower in early trading. Even though U.S. banks have insisted that they're largely insulated from what's going on in Europe, rising bond rates in Spain and Italy have once again reignited fears that the crisis poses a systemic risk not just within the eurozone but throughout the global financial system. Until Europe resolves its problems once and for all, the banks will have to face the possibility of a major setback having ripple effects across the Atlantic.

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