Stocks soar after ECB vows to protect the euro

NEW YORK — Stocks are sharply higher after the European Central Bank president vowed to "do whatever it takes" to keep the continent's monetary union intact.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 148 points to 12,842 as of 11:45 am, following big gains in the European markets. Spain's benchmark stock index surged 6 percent and Italy's rose 5 percent.

The comments from Mario Draghi at an investor conference at the Olympics raised hopes that Europe's central bank might intervene in markets to bring down the cripplingly high borrowing costs for struggling countries like Spain and Italy.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15 points to 1,353 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 24 points to 2,878, despite more disappointing news from technology companies including the online game maker Zynga.