Stocks Rally on Europe Hopes

European stocks shot up Thursday in the wake of an encouraging announcement from Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, who said that the bank will “do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.” According to observers, that likely means restarting its bond purchase program, which will buy up troubled Spanish and Italian debt and reduce those countries’ rocketing borrowing costs. The announcement comes after increased willingness on the part of the ECB to wade into the crisis. Earlier this month it cut interest rates to record lows—a bold move but one that didn’t help as much as some expected.