NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Monday, led by bank shares after Greece’s parliament approved reforms needed to qualify for a cash disbursement and avoid an unruly default.

Greek lawmakers backed drastic cuts in wages, pensions and jobs on Sunday as the price of a 130 billion euro ($170 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

But unrest in the streets and a voting rebellion by lawmakers of the ruling coalition suggested Greece may be on the brink of massive social unrest, which would make it difficult for Athens to stick to the rescue terms.

The S&P 500 last week hit a 7-month high, in part on bets the Greek reforms would pass. The benchmark index traded near the 1,355 level, seen as a resistance point and possible trigger for a pullback.

“Although we’re up, we still haven’t eclipsed the highs we did last week in some of the indexes,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland. “It is a sign there was some more enthusiasm on the prospect (of the Greek deal) than on the news.”

The S&P 500 is up more than 25 percent from a low in early October. McCain said he is worried that the recent market rally may have outpaced the economic improvement.

“You have to respect the fact the market has been as strong as it has been, but we wouldn’t buy into this strength,” he said.

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The euro hit an eight-week high against the dollar on Tuesday, helping lift stocks and commodities on signs a Greek bailout agreement was near, but the rally paused after a key meeting on Greece was postponed by a day.

The euro rallied after Greece appeared to be close to terms on a 130-billion-euro bailout. A government official said Athens was drafting a list of painful reforms to clinch a new financial package, moving it a step closer to a deal that is needed to avoid a chaotic debt default.

But a meeting of Greek political leaders was postponed until Wednesday because a draft of the bailout’s terms was still not available, a party official said.

The euro at one point jumped more than 1 percent to a session high of $1.3270, hitting its highest level since Dec. 12. After paring some gains, the euro traded near session highs, up 1 percent on the day.

Greek political leaders have balked at the austerity plan, with the meeting already having been put off from Monday to Tuesday, as it is certain to mean a big drop in living standards for many Greeks.

“The market is expecting a Greek deal, so there’s greater optimism overall,” said Greg Moore, currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto.

“But it’s certainly up in the air at this point,” he said. “All these are very fluid headlines and that highlights the high level of uncertainty at the moment.”

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The euro hit an eight-week high against the dollar on Tuesday, helping lift stocks and commodities on signs a Greek bailout agreement was near, but the rally lost steam after a key meeting was postponed until Wednesday.

The euro rallied after Greece appeared to be close to terms on a 130-billion-euro bailout. A government official said Athens was drafting a list of painful reforms needed to clinch a new financial package, moving Athens a step closer to a deal that is needed to avoid a chaotic debt default.

But a meeting was postponed until Wednesday because Greek political leaders yet to get a draft of the bailout agreement, a party official said.

The euro jumped at one point more than 1 percent to a session high of $1.3269, hitting its highest level since Dec. 12, but later pared gains to 0.8 percent.

Greek political leaders had balked at the austerity plan required to receive the rescue funds and strikers protesting against more austerity tussled with police outside parliament.

“The market is expecting a Greek deal, so there’s greater optimism overall,” said Greg Moore, currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto.

“But it’s certainly up in the air at this point,” he said. “All these are very fluid headlines and that highlights the high level of uncertainty at the moment.”

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The euro hit an eight-week high against the dollar on Tuesday, giving a lift to stocks and commodities on signs a Greek bailout agreement could be reached later in the day.

The euro advanced after a Greek government official said Athens was preparing a document with a plan for painful reforms needed to clinch a new bailout package that would avoid a chaotic debt default.

“The Greek news removes a hurdle … in the short term and eases the massive credit risk, and that’s positive for the euro,” said Boris Schlossberg, director for currency research at GFT in Jersey City.

Consumer stocks led a rebound on Wall Street, offsetting declines in the energy and industrial sectors. In Europe, weak earnings from Swiss banking giant UBS underscored the financial sector’s exposure to the debt crisis.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke renewed a pledge to prevent Europe’s crisis from damaging the U.S. economy in Congressional testimony that mirrored his remarks last week, also helping sentiment for risk assets.

The euro jumped more than 1 percent to a session high of $1.3269, hitting its highest level since Dec. 12.

The single currency was also underpinned by short covering. Bets by traders the single currency would fall have been running a record levels, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, although the positions were trimmed slightly in the latest week.

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) – The euro rose on Tuesday on news the text of a bailout agreement could be reached later in the day in Greece, while weak earnings from banking giant UBS pressured financial stocks.

U.S. stocks opened lower ahead of Senate testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that may grab the spotlight at 1500 GMT after last week’s strong jobs data.

Greece’s government is preparing the text of an agreement on a 130 billion euro bailout that must be put to political leaders for approval, a Greek government official said, suggesting Athens had largely wrapped up talks with lenders on the rescue.

“The Greek news removes a hurdle … in the short term and eases the massive credit risk and that’s positive for the euro,” said Boris Schlossberg, director for currency research at GFT in Jersey City.

The euro jumped 0.4 percent to $1.3183, tracking below a six-week high of $1.3235 hit at the end of January.

The single currency was also underpinned by short covering. Bets by foreign exchange traders that the single currency would fall have been running a record levels according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, although the positions were trimmed slightly in the latest week.

European stocks, which have risen sharply in the year, fell back as a weak earnings update from Swiss bank UBS signaled the debt crisis will wreak further damage on the banking sector.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Concern that Greece might not accept the terms of a proposed new bailout deal brought a rally in global shares to a halt on Monday, while the euro pared earlier losses as some shorts covered their bets.

U.S. stocks edged lower, tracking European equities, while a gauge of global shares dipped slightly after four straight sessions of gains. Declines were not enough to derail an uptrend of five consecutive weeks of gains on both the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index and global stocks measured by MSCI.

So far this year, the S&P is up 6.8 percent and global stocks have gained 8.6 percent.

The Greek debt crisis remained a concern to markets as political leaders had not agreed to accept unpopular public wage cuts and other measures to qualify for a new bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Greece needs the cash by March to meet big debt repayments and avoid an unruly default.

The slow progress to sort out Greece’s cash problems has angered the country’s European partners and undermined investor confidence across markets.

“We’ve had an ultra-strong move, and I think it would be prudent to take some hedges to protect yourself,” said Randy Bateman, chief investment officer of Huntington Asset Management in Columbus, Ohio. “There will be more negativity if the (Greek) deal doesn’t go through.”

In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 41.81 points, or 0.33 percent, to 12,820.42. The S&P 500 Index fell 2.80 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,342.10. The Nasdaq Composite lost 6.50 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,899.16.

NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Concern that Greece might not accept the terms of a proposed new bailout deal brought a rally in global shares to a halt on Monday, while the euro reversed losses as some shorts covered their bets.

U.S. stocks edged lower, tracking European equities, while a gauge of global shares dipped for the first session in five. Still, the declines were not enough to derail an uptrend of five consecutive weeks of gains on both the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index and global stocks measured by MSCI.

The Greek debt crisis remained a concern to markets as political leaders had not agreed to accept deeply unpopular public wage cuts and other measures to qualify for a new bailout from the European Union and Internation Monetary Fund. Greece needs the cash by March to meet big debt repayments and avoid an unruly default.

The slow progress to sort out Greece’s cash problems has angered the country’s European partners and undermined investor confidence across all markets.

“It’s inevitable the risk profile that Greece represents is definitely going to cool the market tone. There is absolutely no way around that,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“That lack of clarity, the protracted nature of this crisis and the fact that it simply will not go away, it’s a bit unnerving to people who have seen the (U.S. stock) market tack on some very nice early-year gains, and it forces people to want to be a little cautious.”

In late morning trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 41.25 points, or 0.32 percent, to 12,820.98. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.19 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,340.71. The Nasdaq Composite lost 8.54 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,897.12.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fears that Greece might not accept the terms of a proposed new bailout deal brought a rally in global shares and the euro to a halt on Monday, undermining the positive effect of better global economic data.

U.S. stocks edged lower, tracking European equities, while a gauge of global stocks fell for the first session in five. Still, the declines were not enough to derail an uptrend of five consecutive weeks of gains on both the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index and global stocks measured by MSCI.

The Greek debt crisis remained a concern to markets as political leaders had not agreed to accept deeply unpopular public wage cuts and other measures to qualify for a new bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Greece needs the cash by March to meet big debt repayments and avoid an unruly default.

The slow progress to sort out Greece’s cash problems has angered the country’s European partners and undermined investor confidence across all markets.

“It’s inevitable the risk profile that Greece represents is definitely going to cool the market tone. There is absolutely no way around that,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“That lack of clarity, the protracted nature of this crisis and the fact that it simply will not go away, it’s a bit unnerving to people who have seen the (U.S. stock) market tack on some very nice early-year gains, and it forces people to want to be a little cautious.”

In morning trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 46.73 points, or 0.36 percent, at 12,815.50. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 4.55 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,340.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.69 points, or 0.23 percent, at 2,898.97.

NEW YORK, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Fears that Greece might not accept the terms of a proposed new bailout deal brought a rally in global shares and the euro to a halt on Monday, undermining the positive effect of better global economic data.

U.S. stocks edged lower, tracking European equities, while a gauge of global stocks fell for the first session in five. Still, the declines were not enough to derail an uptrend of five consecutive weeks of gains on both the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index and global stocks measured by MSCI.

The Greek debt crisis remained a concern to markets as political leaders had not agreed to accept deeply unpopular public wage cuts and other measures to qualify for a new bailout from the European Union and Internation Monetary Fund. Greece needs the cash by March to meet big debt repayments and avoid an unruly default.

The slow progress to sort out Greece’s cash problems has angered the country’s European partners and undermined investor confidence across all markets.

“It’s inevitable the risk profile that Greece represents is definitely going to cool the market tone. There is absolutely no way around that,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“That lack of clarity, the protracted nature of this crisis and the fact that it simply will not go away, it’s a bit unnerving to people who have seen the (U.S. stock) market tack on some very nice early-year gains, and it forces people to want to be a little cautious.”

In morning trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 46.73 points, or 0.36 percent, at 12,815.50. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 4.55 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,340.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.69 points, or 0.23 percent, at 2,898.97.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. stock-market surge in January may feel to some like having reached a remote mountain peak. It was a lot of work, but there are not many people to celebrate with.

The S&P 500 .SPX rose 4.4 percent in January, the second-best month for stocks since 2010. But trading volumes were down sharply – speaking to worries that the market’s gains are unsustainable.

Rather than a cause for concern, however, strategists say the reduced volume may be better down the road for individual investors frustrated in recent years with the fluctuations caused in part by volatile, computer-driven activity.

January, in contrast to wild daily moves during the summer of 2011, was relatively quiet. That kept high-frequency traders and hedge funds that capitalize on big shifts on the sidelines.

If the low-volatility environment persists, it could eventually bring in institutional investors who have largely sat on their hands in recent months, and help move stocks higher.

That hasn’t happened yet and the general public has also stayed on the sidelines. Data from the Investment Company Institute showed net outflows of more than $7 billion in the first three reporting weeks of the year from funds that invest in U.S. equities, while $16.7 billion flowed into bond funds.

Volume in exchange-traded funds was down considerably as well, irrespective of the asset class the ETF tracks, according to JPMorgan data. Trading volumes of ETFs in January that track equities, bonds and commodities were down on average 36 percent compared to the average daily volume in the second half of 2011.