Market Recap: Markets Rally on Easing Fear Over Europe

Markets closed up on Wall Street today:

• Dow +0.96 percent
• S&P +0.86 percent
• Nasdaq +0.13 percent
• Oil +2.06 percent
• Gold -1.74 percent

On the commodities front:

• Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed to $97.71 a barrel
• Gold (NYSE:GLD) down to $1,760.50 an ounce
• Silver (NYSE:SLV) fell 0.86 percent to settle at $34.07.

(Related: Will a Narrowing Trade Deficit Boost the U.S. Economy?)

Today’s markets were up because:

1) EU: French bond yields spiked today, while Italian yields, which climbed to a record 7.48 percent yesterday, eased slightly after a successful 5 billion-euro debt auction. Talk of a possible emergency meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) helped calm nerves after yesterday’s sell-off, while news emerged that former ECB vice president Lucas Papademos would step in for outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou to head Greece’s interim government.

Even the European Commission chimed in with some news today, cutting its growth forecast for the euro zone in 2012 from 1.8 percent to just 0.5 percent.

2) Jobless claims: The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance dropped to a seven-month low of 390,000 in the latest week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report, which was released this morning. Although those numbers have been challenged by some analysts, the report had a positive impact on the markets nonetheless.

The expectation was for jobless claims of 400,000.

3) Companies: Cisco Systems shares rallied today after a sell-off on Wednesday spurred by the networking giants’ fourth consecutive quarterly report in which earnings declined.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters declined today after the company reported sales and earnings that widely missed expectations late Wednesday.

Apple shares also fell today amid concerns that a drop in supplier orders might be a sign of weakening iPad and iPhone sales.

[Editor’s note: the above is a cross post that originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]