Dow, S&P 500 end at record highs on Greece debt deal

The deal is done -- kind of!  And that sent the Dow up 154 points.  Germany is Europe's banker now and Greece is its biggest creditor.  So the embattled country's new leftist government had to eat a little crow but Germany got what it wanted today and the long awaited "agreement in principle" was reached.  The Greek people will have to settle for a little more austerity at least in the short term and the Greek government must promise to use the extension of credit and the new infusion of Euro dollars to only bolster its financial system and not divert the funds to prop up government agencies.  That's the status as of late Friday afternoon. The Germans now require a detailed proposal from Greece due Monday of specifically how it intends to honor these commitments.  If the German bankers are then satisfied (and it is expected they will be) then the deal goes forward.  It was enough to satisfy investors that the crisis is over and the markets can now focus on the considerable good news that is out there, rather than continuing to let all this Grexit business pull stocks down.  However, Monday's assumed closure will not be the end of it.  Once Germany is satisfied, first all the EU finance ministers must give their stamp of approval, which is scheduled for Tuesday.  Then the EC, ECB, and IMF still have to sign off.  Once that deed is done, then each indivdual EU country must pass, of which many must be by votes from their respective parliaments.  So there are still a lot of "high fives" required in the near future to make this a reality.  To add to the drama, the Greek people are nervous about the economic impact of all this and already doing massive withdrawals from the banks, 1 billion euros just in the last two days.  So there is still at least one more act to this bit of theater before the final curtain.  But at least today investors are optimistic and looking forward to getting on to business as usual sending the Dow up the 154 points.  Volume was steady at 6.2 billion.

Dow, S&P 500 end at record highs on Greece debt deal

BY CAROLINE VALETKEVITCH

DJ:     18,140.44  +154.67      NAS:   4,955.97  +31.27     S&P:   2,110.30  +12.85

NEW YORK Fri Feb 20, 2015 6:28pm EST

(Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Friday while the Nasdaq notched an eighth straight day of gains after Greek and euro zone finance ministers reached a deal to extend heavily indebted Greece's financial rescue by four months.

The agreement removes the immediate risk of Greece running out of money next month and possibly being forced out of the single currency area.

The Nasdaq matched an eight-session winning streak from a year ago and inched closer to its 5,132.52 March 2000 all-time intraday high, reached just before the dot-com bubble burst. The S&P 500 ended slightly higher for the week as well, its third straight week of gains.

The Greek accord will allow investors to concentrate on the fundamentals that should be driving the market, said Ben Pace, chief investment officer at HPM Partners in New York. "You're seeing a little bit better U.S. economic statistics than you've been seeing over the past three or four weeks. The European statistics have gotten a lot better too," Pace said. "So maybe a relief rally today, because the markets were down as there was a lot of consternation going around."

Shares of the Global X FTSE Greece 20 exchange-traded fund jumped 10.1 percent, while U.S.-listed shares of the National Bank of Greece surged 21.7 percent to $1.96.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 154.67 points, or 0.86 percent, to 18,140.44, the S&P 500 gained 12.85 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,110.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 31.27 points, or 0.63 percent, to 4,955.97.

For the week, the Dow was 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.6 percent and the Nasdaqwas up 1.3 percent.

Intuit Inc was among the Nasdaq's biggest positives, rising 6.2 percent to $96.72 a day after reporting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

Shares of Mohawk Industries were up 6.7 percent at $184.26, the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P 500, following results.

About 6.2 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 7 billion average for the month to date, according to BATS Global Markets.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE 2,085 to 990, for a 2.11-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,449 issues rose and 1,266 fell, a 1.14-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 82 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 107 new highs and 23 new lows.