Stocks Advance on Good News Here and Abroad

Stocks enjoyed a solid day of advances as pre-opening news came from Greece that two major banks there had merged as part of measures to solilfy their finances.  Combine that with news from Washington that consumer spending in this country was higher than expected and a modest rally was on its way.  Consumer spending leads to greater production, helps small businesses and pushes the economy forward.  When small businesses show improvements, they will begin to hire and thoughts of recession will becomes memories.  Sustained reports of this nature will boost confidence.  The Dow closed up 254 points.