Bank stocks rebounded with the general markets Tuesday on speculation that Greece may get some help to deal with its debt woes.
The KBW Bank Index rose 1%, to 44.58. The Dow Jones industrial average, meanwhile, inched past 10,000 again after falling below that mark Monday for the first time in three months. The Dow rose 1.52%, to 10,059, and the S&P 500 index rose 1.3%.
The markets rallied as reports surfaced that Germany was preparing a financial aid package to debt-ridden Greece. Global markets have been volatile in recent weeks over fears that Greece and some other European nations with huge deficits could be in danger of default.
U.S. financial stocks have been especially rocky as sovereign debt worries worsened investors' concerns about possibly stiffer regulatory scrutiny and continuing credit losses for U.S. banks.
Still, large and midsize banking companies had a relatively good day Tuesday.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 1.83%; Wells Fargo & Co., 1.06%, and Citigroup Inc., 3 cents a share, to $3.18. Bank of America Corp. declined 0.07%.
Among regional banking companies, KeyCorp was up 1.47%; SunTrust Banks Inc., 1.29%; Capital One Financial Corp., 2.14%; Zions Bancorp., 1.22%, and Regions Financial Corp., 0.96%.
