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Stock investors on Tuesday appeared relieved with news from Greece that a party in favor of abiding by the terms of the country's financial rescue could win in national elections next month. That could avoid a catastrophic rift with Greece's international creditors and keep the struggling country within the euro zone. There was also some positive news from the beleaguered U.S. housing market. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report found that home prices increased in 12 of the 20 cities it tracks. The increase in March from the month before was the first in seven months. It was the latest evidence of a slow recovery taking shape in the troubled housing market. In Europe, concerns that Spain's ailing banking sector might worsen the European debt crisis sent the Spanish stock market to nine-year lows. Other European markets rose. Spain's banks are sitting on huge amounts of soured investments in the country's imploded real estate market. That has led to the recent nationalization of Bankia, the country's fourth-largest lender. Bankia revealed last week that it needs far more money in state aid than previously expected, $23.8 billion. Madrid's Ibex index fell 2.3 percent and Bankia dropped another 13.6 percent. Other stocks that were making big moves: Interline Brands shot up 40 percent after the maintenance company said it is being acquired by a pair of private equity groups for about $811 million. Patriot Coal rose 6 percent after the company said its CEO is leaving the company. Last week Patriot announced that it is working with private equity firm The Blackstone Group after there were concerns that the mining company could run short on cash. ConocoPhillips rose over 2 percent after a Citi analyst said the company is likely to pay hefty dividends this year thanks to asset sales that generated higher returns than analysts expected.
[Associated
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