Financial Markets Rebound After Europe's Leaders Bail Out Greece

May 10, 2010— -- From Asia to Europe to Wall Street, there was a huge sigh of relief today after European leaders agreed to a nearly $1 trillion bailout package to aid debt-addled Greece.

Investors on Wall Street sent the Dow soaring today to close up 404.71 points, an increase of nearly four percent.

Traders were relieved that Europe was finally doing something about its debt crisis.

What it did was a thunderbolt -- a $957 billion rescue plan, larger than almost anyone in the U.S. financial community had expected.

"Clearly the size of this was double what anyone had been talking about," said Art Hogan of Jeffries and Company.

For Americans watching, it was a case of bailout deja vu. There were emergency weekend meetings, but this time, there was no Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and no Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Instead, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were seen in meetings, working the phones.

In the wee hours of the morning, the European leaders emerged with their own "shock and awe" bailout, not a moment too soon.

They realized that Greece, drowning in debt, was already dragging down the global economy. It threatened to bring down Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy with it, each country falling like a domino.

Economists say this bold move will hold back that domino effect before the first brick falls, but the question now is, for how long? The $1 trillion fix is dwarfed by the actual debt that remains divided across the European Union.

"The markets are reacting as though we've suddenly landed the biggest catch in the ocean," said Stephen Pope of Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. "That fresh fish is going to be stinking up the docks by Friday."