European ADRs Leading The Charge Higher (ALU, MT, BHP, STD, IRE, CS, UBS, DB, FTE, PHG, ERIC, NOK, NBG, SI, TI, EWI, EWQ, EWG)

Greece and the rest of the PIIGS were hurting us for so long that it seems hard to believe that the Europeans are setting a 50% haircut for the Greek sovereign debt and that they have agreed to a $1.4 trillion (1 trillion Euro) Euro-zone rescue package. The news is causing a major rally in the stock markets with the German DAX up over 4% and the French CAC up 5%.  The FTSE in England is up 2.6% and the Greek stock market (there actually is one) is up over 6.5%.  European ADRs are leading the markets higher this Thursday… Much higher.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is up over 2.5% at $2.80 and shares are up 5.1% in local trading in Paris.

Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) is up almost 7% at $20.95 and BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) is up 5.1% at $82.07.

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: STD) is up 5.6% at $8.87 and the stock was up 6.1% in local trading in Madrid.

The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is up 6.2% at $6.17 and shares are up 7% in local trading in Dublin.

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS) is flying with shares up 9.6% at $30.67 and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) is up 7.8% at $13.65.

Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) is up a whopping 14% at $46.00 and shares are up 15% in Frankfurt.

France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) is up 1.5% at $18.58 in New York and shares are up 1.5% in Paris as well.

Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) is up about 6% at $22.23.

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) is up 5.6% at $10.83; Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is up 5.3% at $7.13.

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is up 15.6% at $0.545 in New York but shares are up 12.2% in local trading in Athens.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) is up 3.1% at $108.58 in New York and shares are up 3% in local trading in Frankfurt.

Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) has not yet traded in New York but shares have a pre-trade indication of $13.20 versus a $12.73 close in New York; shares are up 4% in local trading in Milan.

iShares MSCI Italy Index (NYSE: EWI) is up 1.8% at $14.05.  iShares MSCI France Index (NYSE: EWQ) is up 4.4% at $22.45 and iShares MSCI Germany Index (NYSE: EWG) is up 4.4% at $22.12.

JON C. OGG