Wall Street and European stock markets soared Monday as investors cheered a massive bailout for US banking giant Citigroup, the prospect of more government money to ease the pain of recession and and the announcement of US President-elect Barack Obama's new economic leadership team. Citigroup shares, which slumped last week to historic lows, put on nearly 60 percent in a spectacular reversal of fortunes that sparked gains in other downtrodden financials and broad rallies of 10 percent and more in Europe. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended the day up 9.8 percent at 4,152.96, while Germany's DAX surged 10.3 percent to 4,554.33. The CAC-40 in France closed up 10.1 percent at 3,172.11. In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 4.2 percent at 8,383.89. Broader stock indicators also jumped. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 42.36, or 5.29 percent, to 842.39, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 64.63, or 4.67 percent, to 1,448.98. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 19.04, or 4.68 percent, to 425.58. Elsewhere in Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris gained 10.09 percent, its second biggest ever single day gain, and in Frankfurt the DAX advanced 10.34 percent Madrid was up 8.13 percent, Milan gained 7.37 percent, Brussels rose 2.49 percent, Oslo and Stockholm each added more than 10 percent and Amsterdam jumped 10.29 percent. The surge also came ahead of Obama's choice Monday of New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner as the next treasury secretary. The news “has helped to reassure investors that a credible team is being charged with reinvigorating the economy,” said John Higgins at Capital Economics in London. Asian markets were closed before their European and US counterparts staged their rally. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 210.26 points, or 1.6 percent, at 12,457.94, while Australia's key index recovered from morning losses to close 0.3 percent higher. South Korea's Kospi slid 3.4 percent to 970.14. Markets in Singapore, Thailand, India and Malaysia also fell. Tokyo was closed for a public holiday. In mainland China, stocks were down mostly in dismay that authorities did not announce an interest rate cut over the weekend as some investors had speculated. The Shanghai Composite index fell 3.7 percent to 1,897.06. In currencies, the dollar was up against the yen at 96.39 yen, while the euro was traded higher at $1.2831.
