Global stocks, commodities rise on US fiscal deal
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NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Global stocks jumped 2 per cent or more and commodities rallied on Wednesday after United States (US) legislators struck a deal to halt a round of automatic fiscal tightening that threatened to push the world's largest economy into recession.
The deal reached on Tuesday to avert the "fiscal cliff" put off the immediate pain of income tax hikes for almost all US households but did nothing to resolve other political impasses on the budget that loom in coming months, including the debt ceiling.
Oil prices pared some gains but Wall Street rallied at the close, with the benchmark S&P 500 posting its best day in more than a year. The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, a gauge of investor anxiety, dropped 18.5 per cent to 14.68 at the close.
The VIX has fallen 35.4 per cent over the past two sessions.
