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Financial Markets Cheer 'Fiscal Cliff' News

Though more big battles lie ahead in Washington, Wall Street is following the lead of financial markets around the world in giving a thumbs-up to the deal that kept the federal government from going completely over the so-called fiscal cliff.

As The Wall Street Journal says, "U.S. stocks vaulted higher on the first day of the new year, joining a global equity rally after Congress' last-minute agreement on the deficit." Among the reasons for relief: The deal means income taxes won't be going up for about 99 percent of Americans. If they had risen as scheduled, some economists say, the still-recovering economy might have been pushed back into recession by a drop in consumer spending.

Lawmakers also at least postponed automatic cuts in federal spending.

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After about 90 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 230 points (1.77 percent).

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