by Calculated Risk on 8/12/2011 04:30:00 PM

Below is a stock market graph from Doug Short, but first ...

From the BBC: New Italian debt plan announced

The Italian government, led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has announced a fresh round of austerity measures.

The 45bn euro ($64bn, £40bn) plan aims to balance the budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned. ... The cabinet agreed to 20bn euros of cuts in 2012 and 25bn in 2013.

The measures still need to be approved by the Italian parliament.

The measures include a new "solidarity tax" on high earners ...

Graph from Doug Short.

Click on graph for larger image.

The Dow was up 125 points and the S&P 500 was up 0.5% - a mild day compared to the previous four days. The Dow was off about 175 points for the week.