( dpa ) - Financial companies led US stocks higher Tuesday after investment guru Warren Buffett offered to ease the credit crunch sparked by the subprime loan debacle in the US.
Buffett, the world's top investor, said in an interview with CNBC that he is ready to take on 800 billion dollars in insurance firms' US municipal debt obligations. Wall Street's gains followed rises in Europe and Asia.
Insurance giant American International Group gained the most in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average. Citigroup and Bank of America, the two largest US banks, also rose. Molson Coors Brewing Co, the number three US beer maker, surged after earnings and sales beat Wall Street forecasts.
The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 rose 9.73 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 1,348.86. The Dow added 133.4, or 1.1 per cent, to 12,373.41. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.02 points to 2,320.04.
The US dollar fell to 68.56 euro cents in New York from 68.88 on Monday. The dollar rose to 107.40 Japanese yen from 106.88.
Gold fell 15.60 dollars to 911.10 dollars per fine ounce.