Stocks Rise on Greece Hope

Stocks rose early Friday on optimism surrounding the Greek debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 79.40 points, or 0.66%, to 2,040.92. The S&P 500 gained 9.73 points, or 0.77% to 1,277.37. The Nasdaq Composite added 14.89 points, or 0.57%, to 2,638.59.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said they are committed to preserving the euro‘s stability and want the Greek crisis resolved quickly.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou sacrificed his finance minister on Friday and put his main socialist party rival into the job in a bid to force through an unpopular austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.

Oil prices dropped below $94 a barrel Friday amid a stronger dollar and renewed concerns about demand for crude after mixed signs about the U.S. economy. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for July delivery was down $1.45 to $93.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet expanded to a record $2.83 trillion in the week ended June 15 from $2.82 billion in the prior week, the central bank said Thursday.