European markets soared on Monday and Wall Street followed suit as traders on the Stoxx Europe 600 and other European indexes bought up bank stocks in hopes of an extended euro-zone bailout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were up nearly a percent in the first few minutes of trading on Monday. According to CNN, a Sunday meeting of European finance officials in Washington, D.C. buoyed investor confidence as Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said his country would do "whatever it takes" to solve its debt problem. U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Europe's debt crisis was the most serious threat to the global economy, "but investors were also heartened by talk that the European Central Bank may cut interest rates at its next policy meeting on Oct. 8," CNN reported.

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Adam Martin