The Greek parliament has also just approved an unpopular new property tax as the prime minister tries to convince European countries that Greece is serious about solving its debt crisis. 

 

"I understand the political difficulties in our European family, as one country wonders why it should support another for its past mistakes, or why some countries should take so much pain for a crisis that began with the banking system. But as I have said, this is not an investment in past failures. This is an investment in future successes, our common success." George Papandreou there. 

 

Let's take a closer look at those big gains on global markets overnight. The biggest gains were in Europe where French and German markets were both up more than 5 per cent. Now that led to a positive close in the US too, where the Dow has gained 147 points, Nasdaq up 30, the S&P500 put on 14. And across in London, the FTSE closed 4 per cent higher, a rise of more than 200 points. 

 

Checking commodity prices, West Texas crude is trading at $US84.07 a barrel, Tapis crude's at $US118.05 a barrel. And gold is at $US1649.49 an ounce. The Australian dollar is heading back towards parity. It's now buying 99 US cents, 72 euro cents and 63 pence sterling.