DOW Hits 2008 Highs
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Updated: February 21, 2012
By SUSANNA KIM (@skimm)
The Dow Jones industrial average hit the intraday high of 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. The stock index is at a nearly four-year high, and a few points from closing at 13,000, which it has not done since May 2008.
With European finance ministers agreeing to a new bailout package for Greece, all eyes were watching whether the Dow would pass the psychological threshold of 13,000 after being closed Monday in honor of Presidents Day. The index briefly passed the mark shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET before returning to about 12,995.
The Dow opened this morning at 12,980, then dropped lower. The S&P 500 opened to 1,364, which was that index's highest close since 2008. The Dow Jones industrial average closed Friday at 12,950, up 0.35 percent, and the S&P 500 closed at 1,361.
Eurozone finance ministers finished seven months of deliberating in Brussels and agreed to a bailout plan for Greece of 130 billion euros, or about $171.5 billion, its second in three years. Martin Koehring, an economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that without the bailout, Greece faced the prospect of defaulting on a 14.5 billion euro, or about $19.1 billion, bond redemption due by March 20. (STORY CONTINUES: LOG ONTO www.abcnews.go.com for more)
