NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing higher for the third day in a row on hopes that European leaders are moving closer to a plan to contain that region's debt crisis.

Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would do whatever it could to help Greece. Greece's finance minister also said that country would receive the next round of bailout loans in time to avoid default.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 147 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 11,191. The Dow had been up as many as 325 points earlier. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 12, or 1.1 percent, to 1,175. The Nasdaq rose 30, or 1.2 percent, to 2,547.

Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was slightly higher than average at 4.9 billion shares.