Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally unveiled the White House plan to clean out toxic assets from banks' balance sheets on Monday, and investors gave it the equivalent of a standing ovation. Contrary to what happened in early February when Geithner first outlined the plan in such general terms that everyone was disappointed, stocks surged around the world yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 6.8 percent, its biggest gain since October, suggesting that "investors bet that the government may have finally found a way to fix the nagging problem at the core of the financial crisis," notes the Los Angeles Times. The Wall Street Journal says "the reaction seemed more a sigh of relief at seeing some details of the program, after weeks of waiting, than an overwhelming endorsement," particularly since "much fine print is still to be spelled out." The New York Times takes the broadest look at the three-part plan that could end up purchasing "up to $2 trillion in real estate assets" and points out that it was "bigger and more generous to private investors than expected." The Washington Post hears word that administration officials "made changes to the plan in recent days in a way that makes it more favorable to private investors."
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