Stocks rose sharply on renewed optimism that European leaders would find a way out of the sovereign debt crisis. Over the weekend, the G-8 reaffirmed their commitment to keeping Greece in the eurozone. And two opinion polls released in Greece reportedly put the pro-bailout New Democracy party ahead of the anti-austerity Syriza party. Facebook plunged as much as 13.7%, before finishing down 11% at $34.03, well below the $38 IPO price. Boeing and Caterpillar were the best performers, gaining more than 3% each. JPMorgan lost almost 3% after CEO Jamie Dimon told a conference Monday in New York that the bank would suspend its share-repurchase program but not its dividend in the wake of its more than $2 billion trading loss. Tech stocks started the week on a strong note, with Apple and Hewlett-Packard posting solid gains. Apple rose almost 6% as several analysts issued reports estimating the co. was seeing strong iPhone sales. H-P rose 2%, Advanced Micro Devices rose almost 5%. Yahoo managed to rise by 1% after the co. said it would sell about half of its 40% ownership stake in Alibaba back to that company. Urban Outfitters climbed 6.6% in the evening trade after the co. posted quarterly earnings above estimates. Implied volatility plunged below the 22.5 level on moderate trading volumes.
