BANGKOK – Asian stock markets soared Thursday after major central banks acted in concert to lower borrowing costs, hoping to prevent a global credit crisis similar to the one that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 2.2 percent to 8,619.26. South Korea’s Kospi gained 3.7 percent to 1,916.87 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 5.1 percent to 18,902.57.

Wednesday’s action by the central banks of Europe, the U.S., Britain, Canada, Japan and Switzerland reduces the rates banks pay to borrow dollars. The move aims to make loans cheaper so that banks can continue to operate smoothly.

Worries about Europe’s financial system — and the reluctance of the European Central Bank to intervene — have caused borrowing rates for European nations to skyrocket.

European banks rely on dollars to cover loans they have promised to consumers and businesses and pay for investments in U.S credit markets. They traditionally have tapped short-term funding from U.S money market mutual funds and other banks. But money market funds have been pulling dollars from Europe in recent months, and lending between banks has dried up.

The move sent the Dow Jones industrial average soaring 490 points, its biggest gain since March 2009 and the seventh-largest of all time.

The Dow rose 4.2 percent to close at 12,045. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 4.3 percent at 1,247. The Nasdaq composite index closed up 4.2 percent at 2,620.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures soared on Wednesday as investors welcomed a coordinated action by major central banks to provide liquidity to the global financial system.

The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank as well as the central banks of Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland agreed to lower the cost of existing dollar swap lines by 50 basis points starting from December 5.

The actions came as China unexpectedly cut its banks' reserve requirements in hopes of boosting an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009.

S&P 500 futures jumped 33.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 269 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 58 points.

"People were expecting China to do something before the end of the year, and given the stresses in the market there has been talk about the Fed backstopping what's going on in Europe. Desperate times and all." said Sal Catrini, a managing director for equities at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in New York.

"The move in (U.S. stock) futures is justified. Whether this solves our long-term problems remains to be seen, but when you flood the market with liquidity, risk assets go much higher."

Further boosting sentiment, the pace of job growth in the private sector accelerated in November, with U.S. employers adding 206,000 jobs, the ADP National Employment Report showed, topping forecasts.

Financial stocks extended gains after the central banks' action. Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) shares rose 4.9 percent to $5.33 in premarket trading and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) added 5.9 percent to $30.19. Citigroup (C.N) put on 6.4 percent to $26.84.

Still, financial shares could be pressured after Standard & Poor's on Tuesday reduced its credit ratings on 15 big banks, mostly in Europe and the United States as part of a sweeping overhaul of its ratings criteria. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) each had their rating reduced by one notch each.

The pending home sales index, to be released at 10 a.m. EST, is seen rising 1.5 percent for October.

The Dow and S&P 500 advanced for a second day on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected consumer confidence data and hopes for further progress on a solution to Europe's fiscal mess bolstered sentiment.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

NEW YORK – A weekend of strong holiday shopping in the U.S. and radical proposals for stanching Europe’s debt crisis sent stocks soaring Monday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index broke a seven-day losing streak and the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 291 points, its biggest gain in a month.

Markets in Europe also surged as leaders there discussed previously unthinkable approaches for containing the region’s debt troubles, such as joint bond sales and much tighter fiscal controls. France’s CAC-40 jumped 5.5 percent. Indexes in Germany and Italy rose 4.6 percent. The battered euro rose against the dollar.

European finance ministers discussed aggressive measures to stop the debt crisis from destroying the 17-nation currency union. In a sign of how desperate the situation has become, one proposal being discussed ahead of a financial summit Tuesday calls for having nations cede control over their budgets to a central European authority. Profligate borrowing and spending by Greece and other countries helped trigger the two-year old crisis.

Another plan calls for Europe’s most stable economies like Germany, France and Austria to jointly sell bonds to provide assistance to the region’s most indebted members.

Retail stocks, meanwhile, spiked after initial reports showed a record number of shoppers hit the mall or bought gifts online during the holiday weekend. Macy’s Inc. rose 4.7 percent and Best Buy Co. rose 3.4 percent. Thanksgiving weekend is a make-or-break time for many retailers. Black Friday is often the biggest retail sales day of the year.

The Dow soared 291.23 points, or 2.6 percent, to 11,523.01. Alcoa Inc. jumped 5.7 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow. The Dow plunged 564 points last week on fear that Europe’s debt crisis was spreading to large countries like Spain, Italy and even Germany.

The S&P 500 rose 33, or 2.9 percent, to 1,192.55. The gains came across industries and sectors; only six stocks in the index fell. The Nasdaq composite rose 85, or 3.5 percent, to 2,527.34.

As the threat of an imminent meltdown in Europe ebbed, U.S. investors focused on a strong weekend of holiday shopping. A record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites during the four-day holiday weekend starting on Thanksgiving Day, up from 212 million last year, according to early estimates by The National Retail Federation. They spent more, too: The average holiday shopper spent $398.62 over the weekend, up from $365.34 a year ago. That’s an encouraging sign for consumer spending.

The retail numbers added to a growing set of indicators, including steady drops in the number of new applications for unemployment benefits, that suggest the U.S. economy is continuing to heal. As recently as August, there were widespread concerns that the U.S. could enter another recession.

“This goes in stark contrast to the gloom and doom that had been over markets,” said Rob Lutts, president of Salem, Ma.-based investment firm Cabot Money Management. “A lot of the stocks I follow have been more oversold than any time I can remember in the last few years.”

That negativity has helped drag the S&P 500 down 5.9 percent in November. Monday’s gains broke a seven-day losing streak for the index, its longest since the wild market swings from this August. That slide took the S&P down 7.9 percent.

Bank stocks rose sharply as investors became less fearful of an imminent freeze-up in Europe’s financial system. Citigroup Inc. leapt 6 percent and Morgan Stanley jumped 4.1 percent.

Despite the big move in the markets Monday, many troubling questions remain about the situation in Europe. Borrowing rates remain onerously high for several major European countries including Spain and Italy. That’s a sign markets still don’t believe enough is being done to get the region’s finances in order.

Credit rating agency Moody’s warned on Monday that the “rapid escalation” of Europe’s financial crisis is threatening the creditworthiness of all euro zone governments, even the most highly rated. Only six of the euro zone’s 17 countries have the top rating — Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland.

Also, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a report Monday saying the continued failure by EU leaders to stem the debt crisis “could massively escalate economic disruption” and end in “highly devastating outcomes.”

After the market closed, there was another reminder of the debt troubles still looming in Washington. The Fitch ratings agency lowered its outlook on the U.S. government’s credit rating following the failure of a congressional panel to agree on long-term budget cuts.

NEW YORK – The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 300 points in morning trading Wednesday after Italy’s borrowing costs soared, a sign that Europe’s debt crisis had spilled into the third-largest economy in the euro bloc.

The yield on the benchmark Italian government bond spiked above 7 percent, a sign that investors are losing faith in the country’s ability to repay its debt. Greece, Portugal and Ireland required bailouts when their bond yields rose above 7 percent. Unlike those countries, Italy’s $2.6 trillion in debt load is too large for other European nations to rescue.

At the same time, the yield on the comparable 10-year German government bond, widely considered the safest European government debt, fell to 1.70 percent. That’s a sign that investors are becoming more fearful and therefore willing to accept minuscule returns in exchange for holding investments they consider safe.

Europe’s debt drama continued to play out in Greece. The two main political parties in that country are still engaged in power-sharing negotiations and have yet to name a prime minister to lead an interim government. The new government must pass an austerity package to receive the next loan installment of emergency loans. Without the funds, Greece could default before Christmas.

Markets fear that a chaotic default by either Greece or Italy would lead to huge losses for European banks. That, in turn, could cause a global lending freeze that might escalate into another credit crisis similar to the one in 2008 after Lehman Brothers fell.

Some analysts fear that the euro itself could fall, which would lead to inflation and a breakdown in free trade agreements in the European Union. Together, the countries in the European Union represent the world’s largest economy.

The Dow dropped 310 points, or 2.6 percent, to 11,857 as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern. The S&P 500 lost 36, or 2.8 percent, to 1,240. The Nasdaq composite slid 79, or 2.9 percent, to 2,648.

The slide was extraordinarily broad. Only two stocks in the S&P 500 index rose, Yahoo Inc. and Best Buy Co. Energy and financial companies fell the most. JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 4.3 percent and Chevron Inc. fell 3 percent.

European markets also fell sharply. Italy’s benchmark index plunged 4.7 percent. Germany’s DAX fell 2.3 percent; France’s CAC-40 lost 2.4 percent.

The prices of assets seen as safe havens rose sharply. The dollar rose 1.8 percent against the euro. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.95 percent from 2.08 percent late Tuesday, a steep drop.

In corporate news, General Motors Co. lost 8.7 percent after the company said Europe’s economic woes were weighing on its profits.

The Wendy’s Co. dropped 4.2 percent after the company said higher beef prices contributed to a larger third-quarter loss.

Dean Foods fell 5.8 percent after the company took a write-down in its fresh dairy business.

NEW YORK – Stocks are closing sharply higher after the leaders of France and Germany promised to strengthen European banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average soared 330 points, led by Bank of America Corp. The euro rose against the dollar.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said they would finalize a “comprehensive response” to the debt crisis by the end of the month.

The Dow shot up 330 points, or 3 percent, to close at 11,433.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 39, or 3.4 percent, to 1,195. The Nasdaq composite index rose 87, or 3.5 percent, to 2,566.

Ten stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was light at 3.8 billion.

Bond trading was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

BANGKOK – Asian stocks faced sharp losses early Friday following a precipitous session of trading of Wall Street sparked by fears that a global recession may already be under way.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.3 percent to 17,493.07, a day after tumbling nearly 5 percent. South Korea’s Kospi plunged 4.8 percent at 1,713.56.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 fell 1.4 percent to 3,909.5. Markets in Japan were closed for a public holiday.

Investors headed for the exits Thursday as they gave in to fears that a global recession was already under way. Selling started in Asia, picked up speed in Europe and sent Wall Street near its worst finish of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.5 percent to close at 10,733.83. It was the second consecutive rout in the stock market since Wednesday afternoon, when the Federal Reserve announced a change in strategy for fighting the economic slowdown — a bid to lower long-term interest rates and get people and companies to spend more money.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a broader measure of the stock market, and the Nasdaq composite, which is more heavily weighted with technology stocks, both fell more than 3 percent for the day.

Economic news was bad around the world. A closely watched survey in Europe indicated a recession could be on the way there, and a manufacturing survey suggested a slowdown in China, which has been one of the hottest economies.

Volatility has been exacerbated by investors who find themselves outside their “comfort zones,” according to Sean Darby, equity strategist at Jeffries Hong Kong Ltd.

“The low incidence of sovereign defaults and banking crises until 2008 created a false sense of security amongst investors that this was the ‘norm’. In reality, the global economy tends to experience long periods where countries are in default,” Darby wrote in a report.

The Fed announced Wednesday that it would shuffle $400 billion of its own holdings in hopes of reducing interest rates on long-term loans, a plan known as Operation Twist. The central bank hopes that if people and businesses are able to borrow money more cheaply, they will spend throughout the economy and give it a lift.

Still, the Fed announcement troubled investors because it came with a bleak assessment of the future. The Fed said it sees “significant downside risks to the economic outlook,” including volatility in overseas markets.

Asian stocks were hammered to start the world’s trading. The Nikkei index in Japan fell 2.1 percent. The main stock averages fell 2.8 percent in China, 2.9 percent in South Korea, 2.6 percent in Australia and almost 5 percent in Hong Kong.

Europe fared even worse. The stock market fell 5.3 percent in France, 5 percent in Germany and 4.7 percent in Britain.

NEW YORK – Wall Street’s wildest week since 2008 continued with another 400-plus point move for the Dow on Thursday. This time, stocks shot up after investors saw small signs that the economy might not be headed into another recession.

Fewer Americans joined the unemployment line last week, and a technology bellwether said revenue could grow faster this quarter than analysts expected. The news pushed prices on long-term Treasurys down, and gold fell from its record high.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 549 points, or 5.1 percent, to 11,269 at 3:45 p.m. in New York.

During a calm market, a 400 point move would rank as the Dow’s biggest in months. During this volatile week, it’s the smallest. On Monday, The Dow plunged 634 points only to gain 429 points Tuesday and then sink 519 points Wednesday. If the Dow stays above 400 points through today’s close, it would be the first time in its history that it had four-straight 400-point days.

Such big up-and-down swings are reminiscent of 2008, when the financial crisis battered stocks. The last time the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose or fell by 4 percent in four straight trading days, as it has just done, was Nov. 19, 2008 through Nov. 24, 2008. Over that span, the index went from down 6.1 percent to down 6.7 percent to up 6.3 percent to up 6.5 percent.

Carlton Neel, who manages about $2 billion as a senior portfolio manager at Virtus Investment Partners said investors are so scared of being the last one out of the market in a downturn or the last one in during a rally that they are stampeding in herds, creating more volatility.

“Fear tends to be a much more powerful emotion, and the sell-offs tend to be more violent than the rallies,” he said. “But people are worried about missing the bottom, so you will have a few melt-ups along the way.” That’s because memories of the last meltdown in 2008 are still fresh in the mind of many investors.

In October 2008, the Dow rose and fell by more than 400 points four times each. That includes a 936 point surge on Oct. 13 after European central banks pledged more aid to banks and the U.S. Treasury offered more details about how it would help U.S. banks. Two days later, when a report showed retail sales had fallen more than anticipated, the Dow dropped 733 points.

On Friday, the government will say how much people spent at retailers during July. Economists expect a 0.4 percent rise, according to FactSet.

The S&P 500 rose 64 , or 5.8 percent, to 1,185. It was the fourth straight day the index rose or fell by 4 percent. That hasn’t happened since Nov. 19-24, 2008 when it rose by at least 6.1 percent for two straight days and then fell by at least 6.3 percent for two more days.

Thursday’s gain came after the government said the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time fell to 395,000 last week, down 7,000 from a week earlier. It’s the first time the number has dropped below 400,000 in four months.

Analysts said it may be a sign that the job market is slowly improving after its three-month slump. Job growth slowed to an average of 72,000 in May, June and July. In the previous three months, employers added 215,000 jobs per month, on average.

“It’s the first scrap of economic data we’ve had recently that says the idea that we’re going into another recession may be overdone,” Neel said.

In the last few weeks, investors have grown more worried about the economy. The government said last month that it grew at its slowest pace in the first half of 2011 since the recession ended in 2009. Unemployment is still above 9 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 133, or 5.6 percent, to 2,514.

Technology stocks helped lead stocks higher. Cisco Systems Inc. profit for the latest quarter topped analysts’ expectations. Cisco is considered a bellwether for the tech industry because it is the world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment. The company also said revenue may grow more quickly in the current quarter than analysts were anticipating. Cisco rose 15.9 percent. As a group, tech stocks in the S&P 500 rose 3.6 percent.

Financial stocks also rebounded from their steep drop Wednesday, up 4.3 percent after a 7.1 percent drop a day earlier.

Media conglomerate News Corp., which owns Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, rose 18.9 percent. Its earnings, reported late Wednesday, were stronger than analysts expected.

Department store chain Kohl’s Corp. rose 7.9 percent after it said profit rose 17 percent last quarter on stronger sales of store-label brands.

Investors had been largely ignoring the strong profits that companies have reported since July. For the 452 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter results so far, overall earnings are up 12 percent. Instead, investors have focused on worries about the weak U.S. economy and Europe’s debt problems.

The leaders of France and Germany, the biggest Eurozone economies, said they will meet next week to talk about how to solve the region’s financial difficulties. Worries that the continent’s debt problems could hurt the banks that own European government bonds have weighed heavily on financial stocks and the broader market. Pain for European banks could lead to more trouble for the U.S. banking industry and the economy because global financial firms are so closely linked.

Reports also circulated that European officials were considering a temporary ban on selling stocks short, which is a way that traders bet a stock will fall.

Rumors have been a force driving the market in the last week. On Friday, speculation that Standard & Poor’s may downgrade the U.S. from its top AAA credit rating helped knock down stocks. It turned out to be correct.

This week, speculation has centered on European banks, French ones in particular. The head of France’s central bank said Thursday that the country’s banks are solid, and he blamed “unfounded rumors” for big drops in their stocks.

Prices for longer-term Treasurys fell, as investors felt less need to put their money in investments considered safe. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.27 percent from 2.11 percent late Wednesday. A bond’s yield rises when its price falls.

Investors had been pouring into Treasurys earlier in the week, and they briefly knocked the 10-year yield to a record low of 2.03 percent Tuesday afternoon. Treasurys have held onto their reputation as a safe place to put money even after S&P cut the U.S. credit rating to AA+.

Gold also benefited early this week from buyers looking for something safe. It rose above $1,801 per ounce for the first time on Wednesday as stock markets tumbled around the world. But it fell to settle at $1,751.50 on Thursday.

CME Group raised the amount of money that investors must put up to buy a gold contract on its COMEX exchange by 22 percent late Wednesday.

The Vix index, a measure of investors’ fear, fell 11.8 percent to below 40. The index shows how worried investors are that the S&P 500 will drop over the next 30 days. It does that by measuring prices for stock options that investors buy to help protect their portfolios.

The Vix, though, is still nearly 30 percent above where it was in early July and remains up for the week.

The Dow’s climb on Thursday pulls the average further away from bear market territory: The Dow ended Wednesday 16.3 percent below its high for the year, reached on April 29. A drop of 20 percent would mean the bull market that began in March 2009 has turned into a bear, a long period of stock declines.

HONG KONG (AFP) – Asian stock markets surged on Monday morning after US President Barack Obama said lawmakers had reached a last-minute deal that would raise the country’s debt ceiling and avoid a catastrophic default.

Tokyo jumped 1.94 percent in the afternoon, Hong Kong rose 1.51 percent in the morning and Sydney added 1.97 percent, while Seoul gained 1.75 percent and Taipei climbed 0.45 percent. Shanghai edged 0.15 percent higher.

“I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default, a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy,” Obama said late Sunday in Washington.

The deal will raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by about $2.4 trillion in two steps, while calling for roughly the same amount in spending cuts over 10 years.

However, the bill must still pass through both houses of Congress, and Obama urged lawmakers “to do the right thing and support this deal”.

Traders worldwide have been on edge for weeks as the White House and Democrats squabbled with Republicans over how to make enough budget cuts to allow a hike in the debt limit.

A default by the United States, the world’s richest country, would send shudders through the global economy that could lead to another financial crisis.

The news briefly lifted the dollar — after a steady sell-off last week as Democrats and Republicans struggled to come to an agreement — but it soon eased back.

The greenback, which rose above the 78 yen level after the deal, was at 77.50 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 76.73 yen in New York late Friday.

The euro fetched $1.4391 against $1.4395. The European single unit rose to 111.51 yen from 110.41 yen.

“The debt-ceiling issue had been disturbing the market and spawned risk aversion since last week,” noted Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager of investment strategy and research at Daiwa Securities.

“As President Obama announced a deal, lost ground is being regained,” he said.

However, he sounded a note of caution, adding: “This is not a factor that makes investors picture higher growth for the US economy. The market is reacting to the fact that what should have been settled earlier has finally been done so after a political game.”

Analysts also pointed out that data from the United States last week showed stagnant growth in the first half of 2011, raising fresh concerns of a recession.

The Commerce Department said gross domestic product grew only 1.3 percent in the second quarter, after 0.4 percent in the first, the weakest growth since the economy officially exited recession two years ago.

Both numbers were much lower than earlier forecasts — originally first-quarter growth had been put at 1.9 percent — and raised doubts about widespread forecasts of a 3.0 percent-plus pace for the rest of the year.

Eyes will be on the release on Friday of key non-farm payroll figures, with concerns that the economy is coming to a halt.

In Shanghai stocks were muted after HSBC said its purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.3 in July from 50.1 in June, showing manufacturing activity in China contracted for the first time in a year, due to Beijing’s efforts to slow the economy as well as weakening overseas.

That came after the official index released earlier Monday showed activity slowed for the fourth straight month in July to 50.7 from 50.9 in June — the lowest in more than two years.

Oil rallied on the debt deal announcement. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, surged $1.53 to $97.23 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude gained $1.25 to $117.99.

Gold opened in Hong Kong at $1,612.00-$1,613.00 an ounce, unchanged from Friday’s finish.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Investors eagerly bought the shares of Dunkin’ Donuts parent Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc (DNKN.O), sending them up as much as 56 percent on their first day of trading on Wednesday.

The stock gained almost 47 percent to close at $27.85 after hitting an session high of $29.62 during its first day of Nasdaq trading.

The company’s new market value of more than $3.5 billion is still significantly smaller than rivals McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) and Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O), but the Dunkin’ Donuts chain has a devoted U.S. following and plenty of room for domestic growth, particularly on the West Coast.

The chain, whose advertising slogan is “America Runs on Dunkin’,” has set a 20-year target for 15,000 U.S. stores — more than Starbucks’ 11,000 and up from about 6,800 currently.

“The market’s really going to like the growth story,” said Morningstar senior analyst Joscelyn MacKay. “Even though the Dunkin’ Donuts brand has been around for 70 years, there’s still great potential for the brand to increase its awareness around the United States.

Dunkin’ Donuts sells coffee drinks, doughnuts and other foods like bagels and sandwiches. It is the primary growth engine for Dunkin’ Brands, which gets 60 percent of its revenue from coffee.

Dunkin’ Donuts customers are the most loyal in the U.S. coffee business, ahead of fans of Starbucks, McDonald’s and Canadian chain Tim Hortons Inc (THI.TO), according to consulting firm Brand Keys Inc.

GO WEST, COFFEE SELLER

Most Dunkin’ Donuts stores are on the East Coast, and the chain sees the U.S. West, where it has just over 100 outlets, as a key growth market.

Dunkin’ Donuts plans to steadily add stores across the United States “in a contiguous and disciplined manner,” Chief Executive Nigel Travis told Reuters.

That means it could take “some time” to get to California, the nation’s most populous state, which is already Dunkin Donuts’ biggest market for grocery sales of coffee, he said.

“When you can build another 3,000 stores relatively closer to where we already are, I think that’s the right decision to make,” said Travis.

The chain added more than 200 stores in the United States last year and plans to add 250 this year.

“We’re going to be extremely disciplined,” said Travis, who vowed that the brand would support its franchisees, who are key to profitable growth.

While Starbucks has built a global brand selling fancy coffee drinks to relatively upscale consumers, Dunkin’ Donuts takes pride in its more working-class clientele — a group also targeted by the expanded McDonald’s McCafe coffee drink lineup.

Dunkin’ Donuts also has opportunities to expand in international markets, where it now has 3,000 outlets.

Starbucks has saturated the domestic market and is focused on building more cafes overseas in markets such as China. McDonald’s, which has 14,000 restaurants in the United States, also is eyeing international growth.

The Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain is Dunkin’ Brands’ more international brand, with just over 2,500 of its nearly 6,500 worldwide stores in the United States. The chain contributes about one-fourth of company revenue, and its closely watched sales at established U.S. restaurants have been falling for some time.

Baskin-Robbins’ U.S. business is in the middle of a revival, and its same-restaurant sales are improving under new leadership, Travis said.

IPO OF THE WEEK

Canton, Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Brands sold $422.75 million worth of stock on Tuesday in the biggest initial public offering of the week. The IPO price of $19 a share landed above the expected range of $16 to $18.

Morningstar’s MacKay said she wasn’t surprised to see the shares price above the expected range and pop in their first trading day, given that other popular restaurant chains are richly valued.

Her fair value estimate of $17 per share for Dunkin’ Brands implies a price-to-earnings ratio of around 24 times fiscal 2011 earnings. That compared with multiples of 50 for Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N) and about 30 for both Panera Bread Co (PNRA.O) and Starbucks, she said.

Lawrence Levine, managing director at accounting firm RSM McGladrey, said the market is pricing Dunkin’ Brands and Starbucks nearly the same at an enterprise level — which he says is a better yardstick since Dunkin’ Brands has more debt than Starbucks and, unlike the world’s biggest cafe chain, does not own most of its stores.

Private equity firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group (CYL.UL) and Thomas H. Lee Partners bought Dunkin’ Brands from global spirits company Pernod Ricard SA (PERP.PA) for $2.4 billion in 2006.

Those firms sold shares in the IPO, reducing their combined stake to 26 percent from 32 percent.

JPMorgan (JPM.N), Barclays Capital (BARC.L), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) were lead underwriters on the IPO.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; editing by Lisa Von Ahn, John Wallace and Andre Grenon)

NEW YORK – Stocks and government bonds fell Tuesday as commodities rallied to two-year highs.

Silver, soybeans and copper jumped to levels last seen in October 2008 as investors moved money into hard assets in anticipation that a massive economic stimulus plan announced by the Federal Reserve last week will continue to weaken the dollar. Investors are expecting that commodities will hold their value even if the dollar falls.

The Fed plans to buy $600 billion in U.S. government bonds over the next six months in an effort to push interest rates even lower and encourage borrowing and spending. It’s a tactic called quantitative easing, one that the Fed used successfully in 2008 to restore confidence in financial markets at the height of the credit crisis.

“The market is still being driven by the Fed’s actions and it will be for a while,” Dirk van Dijk, senior equity strategist at Zacks.com.

Treasury prices fell despite a strong auction of 10-year notes. Investors are concerned that demand may be weak for 30-year bonds in an auction upcoming Wednesday. The price of the 30-year bond was down sharply, losing about two full points, or $2 per $100 in face value. Its yield rose to 4.23 percent, the highest level since June 10.

The 30-year bond wasn’t one of the maturities being heavily targeted by the Fed’s purchasing program announced last week, and its long maturity makes it more sensitive to inflation than shorter-term notes.

Many investors worry that the Fed’s bond-buying program could lead to a jump in inflation down the line, which would erode the value of all bonds since their fixed payouts would become worth less over time. With the Fed now focused on encouraging some inflation, “it might be hard for investors to convince themselves to buy” at Wednesday’s auction, said John Briggs, a fixed income analyst at RBS.

The dollar has been falling against other currencies in anticipation of the Fed’s stimulus program, but it gained 0.9 percent against an index of other currencies Tuesday as new troubles emerged in Ireland, one of the weaker countries that use the euro, Europe’s shared currency.

Investors are concerned that Ireland’s government will not be able to pass additional spending cuts and will have to ask for financial assistance. Greece, another member of the euro club, was forced to seek a bailout from other European countries in April after investors dumped the countries bonds in the wake of a fiscal crisis there.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 60.09, or 0.5 percent, to 11,346.75. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 9.85, or 0.8 percent, to 1,213.40, while the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 17.07, or 0.7 percent, to 2,562.98.

Every industry group within the S&P 500 fell. Financial shares, which fell 2.2 percent, were the worst performing industry group.

Gold settled at $1.410.10 an ounce, up $6.90. The precious metal is hovering near record levels in dollar terms but is still well below its peak in the early 1980s after accounting for inflation.

The weakening dollar has been benefiting gold as investors seek other assets seen as safe places to park money. Some gold investors see the metal as a hedge against national currencies losing their value as a result of inflation.

Silver rose, jumping 5.4 percent to settle at $28.906 an ounce. The metal’s large gains may be a result of traders buying silver because it had fallen below its typical price relationship with gold. Gold usually trades at 50 times the price of silver, said Rick de los Reyes, a metals and mining analyst at T. Rowe Price.

“Gold is someone’s first instinct when they are buying for all of the reasons they’re buying gold right now, and silver usually lags somewhat,” he said. Silver, which has a greater use for industries than gold, is rising alongside other industrial metals like platinum and copper.

In corporate news, Chevron Corp. shares fell 1.5 percent after announcing a deal to buy the natural-gas producer Atlas Energy for $4.3 billion, following other natural gas deals by rival energy giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Shares of Dean Foods Co. sank 17.9 percent after the country’s largest dairy company announced disappointing results. The company has slashed prices to compete with supermarkets selling milk under their own labels. Dean Foods shares have slumped 53 percent for the year, making it one of the worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 index.