Stocks Higher on Europe Reports

Stocks pushed higher in afternoon trading Wednesday on reports tied to European efforts to resolve its debt trouble. The Dow lately was up 150.23 points, or 1.28%, to 11,856.85. The S&P 500 Index added 12.89 points, or 1.05%, to 1,241.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 12.67 points, or 0.48%, at 2,651.09.

Agence France-Presse reported that China has agreed to invest in Europe’s financial rescue fund, which will be used to support struggling countries in the European Union European governments will force their largest banks to quickly and significantly increase their cushions of capital in order to ride out market turmoil brought on by the debt crisis, officials announced Wednesday. By the end of June, the banks will need to have a 9 percent core tier 1 capital ratio.

Oil prices dropped more than 3 percent Wednesday after the government said U.S. supplies grew much more than expected. The price of benchmark crude fell $2.97, or 3.2 percent, to end the day at $90.20 per barrel in New York. Brent crude fell $2.01 to finish at $108.91 in London.