Stocks soar as accounting board says 'you bet your assets'

Stocks continued their push higher today, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average spent much of the day above 8,000 before settling down a bit. When the closing bell rang, the DJIA had posted a gain of 216 points, or 2.8 percent, to finish at 7,978.

World leaders at the Group of 20 meetings in London committed to more regulation and more aid for developing nations, which surely boosted stocks. But the real kicker was the end of "mark-to-market" accounting rules that govern how the banks value the illiquid debt assets on their balance sheets. The change sent financial shares soaring, and even stocks which might have otherwise sold off rode the surge.