Shares soar (Asia, Europe up over 6 %) on US stimulus hopes

[BelgianMadCow]

London equities made strong progress on Monday as investors around the world hoped that news of a renewed US economic stimulus package could see off the worst effects of the global downturn.

The FTSE 100 rose 6 per cent to 4,292.64, an advance of 241 points driven by resurgent resource and financial stocks, although gains were broad-based, with every one of the index’s constituents rising.

European indices also made strong progress. The Xetra Dax 30 in Frankfurt was 6.5 per cent higher at 4,669.49 and Paris’ CAC 40 rose 6.5 per cent to 3,181.14. Overalll, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 5.6 per cent higher at 838.16.

The rally followed news Barack Obama was to draw up the biggest infrastructure investment in the US for half a century. The president-elect argued that with the economy reeling, his incoming administration could not afford to worry about a spiralling budget deficit

more:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ccba7174-c4f8-11dd-b516-000077b07658.html

Wow, what a tremendous weight Obama carries already. Personally, I don't see how such a package will have a drastic influence on the world economy - but in contrast to Bush*, at least the stock markets don't tank when Obama speaks.

On edit: well, maybe the package DOES have influencing power, if indirectly: it leads by example, it's likely other governments will follow suit with infrastructure works.
How long has it been since the US led by example? I'm lovin' it.

[elleng]

1. Right, it leads by example.

The markets are motivated by emotion and concrete matters; having reliable leaders is a major factor.