U.S. stocks finished higher on Wednesday, as strength in the banking sector raised all three major indexes following Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement over mortgage securities claims. In world markets, European stocks closed sharply higher, led by the CAC 40 in France rising 1.9 percent. Asian markets ended mixed, as the Shanghai Composite fell 1.1 percent and the Nikkei in Japan rose 1.5 percent. In U.S. economic news, the unemployment rate increased in 210 cities in May, decreased in 131 cities, and remained unchanged in 37, the Labor Department said. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose slightly in May to 9.1 percent, as employers added only 54,000 jobs. In the previous three months, employers had added an average of 222,000 jobs per month. Meanwhile, pending sales of existing U.S. homes rebounded from a seven-month low in May, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said. The association said its pending home sales index rose 8.2 percent to 88.8 in May, following an 11.3 percent decline in April. Economists had expected home resale contracts to rise only 3.8 percent in May. --More
