Move by central banks exhilarates Wall Street

  

NEW YORK -- A coordinated move by the world's central banks to ease borrowing costs sent stocks shooting higher. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 490 points, its biggest gain since March 2009.

The central banks of Europe, the U.S. and other major economic powers agreed to give banks cheaper access to loans in U.S. dollars. The move aims to avert a credit crisis similar to the one that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The Dow rose 4.2 percent to close at 12,045.

The Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 52, or 4.3 percent, at 1,247. The Nasdaq composite index closed up 105, or 4.2 percent, at 2,620.

Seven stocks rose on the NYSE for every one that fell. Volume was heavy at 5.7 billion shares.

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