Stocks Surge After Roubini Nod

In other earnings, Swiss drugmaker Novartis(NVS Quote) said second-quarter earnings fell 10% on currency changes and higher financing costs, but reaffirmed its outlook for "strong underlying momentum" in 2009, with net sales rising at a mid-single-digit rate in local currencies. Novartis shares rose 2.6% to $42.

Bank of America(BAC Quote) and Citigroup(C Quote) are slated for Friday.

In other news, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified on Thursday on the government's involvement in the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger at a hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Paulson, who said that in his view the interests of the nation and Bank of America were aligned with respect to the closing of the deal, faced sharp criticism on his use of power and amount of disclosure.

"While all of this was going on, the American people, investors and the Congress were kept in the dark," said Rep. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.).

Stocks overseas were mostly higher. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 and the DAX in Frankfurt advanced 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan and Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.08% and 2.1%, respectively.

As for commodities, crude oil futures rose 48 cents to settle at $62.02, while gold lost $4 to $935.40 an ounce.

The dollar was weaker vs. the yen but gaining ground against the pound and eduro, while longer-dated Treasuries were rising in price, falling in yield. The 10-year was up 11/32 to yield 3.55%, while the 30-year rose 25/32, yielding 4.44%.