Wall Street plowed higher on Thursday, with the blue chips zooming past the 12000 level for the first time since August, after European leaders crafted a plan to stem the region’s sovereign debt crisis. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@Wil

Today’s Markets
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 339 points, or 2.9%, to 12,208, the S&P 500 jumped 42.6 points, or 3.4%, to 1,285 and the Nasdaq Composite leaped 88 points, or 3.3%, to 2,739.
The blue-chip average crossed 12000 for the first time since August, and is within 700 points of reaching its highest close in 2011. Indeed, the Dow is nearly 1,400 points off of its 2011 lows. Meanwhile, volatility plunged 16%, and yields on government debt rose, indicating traders are rushing back into equity markets.
Financials were the best performers on the day, followed by energy and basic materials shares. Defensive stocks, like healthcare and consumer staples, however, lagged far behind the broader markets.
Wall Street has been driven higher and lower by headlines from across the Atlantic in recent months as market participants have fretted over the specter that the euro zone debt crisis could spark another credit crunch and seize already fragile global economies.

FX