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A plunge in Facebook’s stock didn’t faze the broader U.S. market Monday. U.S. stocks bounced back from their worst week of the year on renewed optimism that European leaders would find a way out of the sovereign debt crisis.

The Dow posted its biggest gain in over a month, while the S&P 500 delivered its best performance in over two months. The tech-heavy Nasdaq enjoyed its best gains of the year.

"I think it’s just more of a relief rally after being down so many sessions in a row," said Dave Rovelli, managing director at Canaccord Adams. "People are looking for stocks that have sold off a bit."

Over the weekend, the Group of Eight nations met and reaffirmed their commitment to keeping Greece in the eurozone. And two opinion polls released in Greece reportedly put the pro-bailout New Democracy party ahead of the anti-austerity Syriza party.

The combination of the G8 and the poll results was enough to boost sentiment across world markets, with European and Asian stocks eking out gains and the euro holding steady at around $1.28 against the U.S. dollar.

Paul Zemsky, head of asset strategies for ING Investment Management, said the rally was the result of "a smidgen of good news in an oversold market."

"You had a tremendous amount of pessimism, but nothing bad came out of Greece this weekend," he said. "There’s some optimism that perhaps the Greek people are realizing how damaging it would be for them to leave [the eurozone]."

The Dow Jones industrial average () rose 135 points, or 1.1%. Blue chips, including Caterpillar (, Fortune 500), Boeing (, Fortune 500) and IBM (, Fortune 500) led the gains.

The S&P 500 () gained 21 points, or 1.6%, and the Nasdaq () rose 68 points, or 2.5%.

Shares of Facebook () plunged as much as 13.7%, before finishing down 11% at $34.03, well below the $38 initial public offering price.

The sharp drop "weighed heavily" on markets at the start of trading, said Anthony Conroy, head trader at ConvergEx Group, noting that the tech-heavy Nasdaq briefly slid into negative territory.

What’s next for Greece

But trading might be choppy this week as worries about Europe will continue to dominate. Elisabeth Afseth, a fixed income analyst with Investec in London, said the weeks leading up to Greece’s June 17 election are likely to be volatile for both equity and bond markets.

An informal summit of European leaders is scheduled for Wednesday.

Despite Thursday’s bounce, stocks are still down considerably in May, on track for the worst monthly losses since September. The Dow has finished in the red on all but three of the 15 trading days this month.

The blue chip index and the S&P 500 are off more than 5% in May, while the Nasdaq is more than 6% lower.

U.S. stocks closed lower Friday, after the euphoria surrounding Facebook’s Friday IPO had worn off. All three indexes clocked their worst weekly losses of the year last week.

World markets: European stocks closed with significant gains. Britain’s FTSE 100 () climbed 0.9%, the DAX () in Germany rose 1.1% and France’s CAC 40 () jumped 1%.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite () edged 0.2% higher and Japan’s Nikkei () ended up 0.3%. The Hang Seng () in Hong Kong shed 0.2%.

Companies: Yahoo (, Fortune 500) and China’s Alibaba Group have agreed to a $7.1 billion deal, in which the Chinese Internet giant will buy back half of Yahoo’s 40% stake in the company.

JPMorgan loss: It’s going to get worse

Speaking at a Deutsche Bank conference, JPMorgan Chase (, Fortune 500) CEO Jamie Dimon said the firm would suspend its stock buyback program but would keep its dividend.

Lowe’s (, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected earnings but issued mixed guidance. The stock fell 10%.

Campbell Soup (, Fortune 500) posted a slight decline in earnings per share but performed slightly better than forecasts. The stock fell 2%.

Some social media stocks fell along with Facebook, though not as steeply. Zynga () fell less than 1% and LinkedIn () declined just 2%. But Groupon () surged 7%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar posted modest gains versus the Japanese yen, but slipped slightly against the euro and the British pound.

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Oil for June delivery rose $1.09 to settle at $92.57 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery dropped $3.20 to settle at $1,588.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell Monday morning, pushing the yield up to 1.75% from the 1.70% level late Friday.  

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Verizon just can’t seem to stay out of hot water.

As of May 6, new, upgrading and moving Verizon DSL Internet users are being required to also purchase a landline telephone service package. That decision is causing a stir on Capitol Hill and with partner DirecTV (, Fortune 500).

Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee, wrote to Verizon (, Fortune 500) on Thursday, slamming the telecom giant for its new DSL rules.

"The bundling that Verizon now plans could potentially lessen competition, increase rates and lead to less innovation," Kohl said in his letter. "Consumers benefit when one service is competing with another, not when they must buy a package of services."

Kohl’s primary complaint was about the timing of the company’s move. Verizon’s decision comes soon after it struck a deal with rival cable companies Comcast () and Time Warner Cable (, Fortune 500) to sell wireless service to their customers.

Verizon’s move to reduce its competition with its new partners seems a little suspicious.

As Kohl put it: "It appears inconsistent for Verizon to argue, on the one hand, that the joint marketing arrangements and bundling wireless services with cable offerings increases customer choice, while on the other hand the company is tying voice and DSL services, compelling consumers to purchase bundled offerings."

Verizon’s residential DSL and landline telephone businesses is on the decline. In the first quarter, the company shed 89,000 DSL customers and 205,000 landline phone users.

"Our decision to adjust the way we offer DSL service after May 6 more accurately represents the broadband customer base at Verizon," Verizon spokesman William Kula said.

Ending standalone DSL sales lets Verizon "control our cost structure more effectively," he said.

Verizon said it is reviewing Kohl’s letter and "will respond appropriately."

Verizon is still waiting for regulatory approval of its arrangement with Comcast and Time Warner Cable. It agreed to purchase $3.6 billion of wireless spectrum from the cable companies. In return, the cable consortium will be able to bundle wireless service with their triple-play TV, broadband and phone packages.

"We have made a strong case that the spectrum purchase is in the public interest," said Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden.

Verizon’s plan is to take currently unused spectrum and use it to expand its 4G LTE wireless broadband services.

But the deal has raised eyebrows among consumer advocates and other competitors, since Verizon has its own FiOS triple-play package as well as its DSL service. Those both compete directly with the cable companies’ plans.

Related story: Are landlines doomed?

DirecTV, which bundles Verizon’s DSL service with its satellite TV offering, also opposes Verizon’s spectrum purchase. It said in a complaint filed to the FCC on Wednesday that Verizon’s DSL-landline bundling decision is a prime example of why the telecom’s spectrum deal with the cable companies is anticompetitive.

"Even in the short amount of time since the commercial agreements were finalized, Verizon’s behavior offers direct evidence of ways in which the proposed transaction will alter the market to the detriment of competition and consumers," the company said.

The DSL wrangle is just the latest in a recent slew of negative headlines about Verizon.

The company on Wednesday said it was planning this summer to begin forcing smartphone customers with unlimited data plans to switch to tiered plans when they upgrade.

Last month, Verizon said it would begin instituting a $30 upgrade fee when current customers purchase a new phone.

And just before New Year’s Eve, Verizon tried to sneak through a $2 "convenience charge" for customers who make one-time bill payments using a debit or credit card. Met with incredible consumer ire, Verizon abandoned that plan the next day. 

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Oil prices hovered near $93 a barrel Thursday in Asia as traders mulled whether concern over Europe’s debt crisis justifies extending a sharp sell-off during the last two weeks.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 26 cents to $93.07 a barrel at late morning Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.17 to settle at $92.81 in New York on Wednesday.

Brent crude for July delivery was down 46 cents at $109.29 per barrel in London.

Crude has plummeted about 12 percent from $106 two weeks ago amid investor worries that economic growth in the U.S. and China will slow more than previously expected. This week, political turmoil in Greece and growing anti-austerity sentiment in Europe have raised fears of a debt default and economic recession, which would undermine crude demand.

Some analysts say a slowly improving U.S. economy and signs of growing oil demand in developing countries should keep the crude price from collapsing further.

“A drastic weakening of sentiment brought oil prices down sharply, with sovereign debt fears a key element in a mounting loss of faith in economic, and hence demand, prospects,” Barclays said business card. “Crude oil prices may well remain capped on the upside in the next few weeks by fears of major economic upheavals.”

“However, given the actual economic and oil demand picture, Brent prices are more likely to remain protected around $110 rather than attempting to break through to a more extreme downside,” Barclays said.

Should crude continue to fall or at least maintain the recent pullback, it should translate to lower prices for oil products such as gasoline, which would ease global inflation pressures and give policymakers more room to implement stimulus measures or loosen monetary policy to boost economic growth.

In other energy trading, heating oil was down 1.2 cents at $2.89 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 1.5 cents at $2.85 per gallon. Natural gas rose 1 cent at $2.63 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Japan

The head of Greece’s second-placed Radical Left Coalition has written to top European officials urging them to re-examine the country’s strict austerity program.

In a letter Thursday, Alexis Tsipras said the strong anti-austerity vote in Sunday’s election, which produced a hung parliament, stripped Greece’s bailout commitments of “political legitimacy.”

Tsipras says the punishing cutbacks have failed to address the country’s problems, are destroying the recession-bound economy and threatening to create a Greek “humanitarian crisis.”

He urged top EU officials to “re-examine the entire framework of the current strategy.”

The letter was addressed to European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ Greek power-sharing talks entered a third and final round Thursday, as parties in the crisis-hit country struggled to hammer out a coalition deal after general elections produced no outright winner.

The mandate to seek coalition partners passed to Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, whose traditionally dominant PASOK party was hammered in Sunday’s poll, pushed into third place with just 13.2 percent of the vote.

He is the third party leader to try to find an agreement. Antonis Samaras, whose conservative New Democracy won the most votes, and runner-up Alexis Tsipras, who heads the Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, have already tried and failed.

A major stumbling block has been Tsipras’ insistence that Greece’s tough austerity program, which is part of its international bailout commitments, be canceled or frozen. Both Samaras and Venizelos argue such a move would be catastrophic for the country, and would lead Greece out of the euro.

Venizelos has three days in which to seek some form of agreement, although since all the party leaders have already met during the previous two rounds, that looks unlikely.

“Things are not easy,” he said. “I am not declaring myself optimistic. But I am declaring myself responsible, and dedicated to this aim that I believe serves the national interest.”

If his efforts fail, President Karolos Papoulias will convene all the leaders in a last-ditch attempt to cobble together a coalition. If that is also unsuccessful, new elections will be called for early June, prolonging the political uncertainty.

Speaking earlier in parliament, Venizelos said he believed an agreement was possible.

“If the parties show a minimum level of responsibility, we believe this parliament can produce a government that is viable, responsible and one that can do something better for this country,” he said.

Venizelos, however, sharply criticized a proposal by Syriza to impose a moratorium on debt payments.

“This would lead the country to formal bankruptcy, cutting it off the international banking system, and world markets, halting imports and exports and lines of credit to businesses. Greece would become Albania of the 1960s.”

Markets, in the doldrums since Greece’s election stalemate, partially rebounded Thursday, with shares on the Athens Stock Exchange up 2.15 percent at 628.64 in early afternoon trading.

But new unemployment figures released Thursday showed the jobless rate reaching 21.7 percent in February, after more than 900 people lost their jobs every day on average in the prior 12 months.

In return for billions of euros in rescue loans from other European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund, Greece imposed harsh austerity measures that saw salaries and pensions slashed, tens of thousands of people lose their jobs and businesses close down.

Anger at the past two years of austerity and the deep financial crisis saw voters desert the formerly dominant two main parties and flock to smaller parties on the right and left. Syriza saw a strong boost, bringing the party into second place with 16.8 percent.

“The people have punished PASOK, because they considered it responsible for the crisis,” Venizelos said.

But, Venizelos said the election result was a clear message that the Greek people rejected the dominance of any one party.

“It is clear from the result that the people want a coalition government, handing no clear mandate to any single party,” Venizelos told his party’s deputies. “The Greek people want to remain in the euro.”

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McDonald’s Corp. says a key revenue figure rose in April as strength in the U.S. and U.K. helped offset weakness in Japan. But results missed analyst expectations and McDonald’s shares fell 2 percent in premarket trading.

The world’s largest hamburger chain says global sales rose 3.3 percent at stores open at least 13 months. But Thomson Reuters says analysts expected a 4.1 percent rise.

The figure is key metric because it excludes the impact of newly opened stores.

The figure rose 3 payday loans guaranteed no fax.3 percent in the U.S., driven by its new extra value menu offerings such as 20-piece Chicken McNuggets.

The sales figure rose 3.5 percent in Europe and 1.1 percent in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. McDonald’s says positive results in China were offset by negative results in Japan.

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The Toronto stock market is negative after elections in France and Greece over the weekend resulted in another round of uncertainty about Europe

China

Delta Air Lines Inc.’s chief executive, Richard Anderson, received a 10 percent raise in his pay package in 2011, a year when the company’s stock price fell by more than a third.

Anderson’s pay package was valued at $8.9 million, up from $8 million in 2010, according to an Associated Press review of a securities filing made Friday.

His salary was unchanged at $600,000 but he received stock awards valued at $7 million, up from $6 million a year earlier. Other items in his pay package _ including retirement benefits, home security and performance pay _ were mostly unchanged.

Delta and other airlines responded to rising fuel costs in 2011 by cutting flights and raising fares and fees.

Shares of the nation’s second biggest airline fell 36 percent in 2011, compared to a 21 percent decline for United Continental Holdings Inc payday loans for bad credit., the No.1 carrier in the nation. The stocks have recovered, with Delta showing a 34 percent gain in the year to date.

United CEO Jeffery Smisek’s pay package tripled to $13.4 million, according to a separate filing Friday.

The AP’s calculation of executive compensation includes salary, bonuses, perks and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The amount that Anderson or other CEOs eventually get can differ, depending on the performance of the company’s stock after awards are granted. Most companies require an executive to wait a certain amount of time before getting stock grants or exercising options.

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The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits remained stuck near a three-month high last week, a sign that job gains will likely remain modest.

The report disappointed economists, who had forecast a decline in unemployment applications. Even so, most analysts think employers will add about 175,000 jobs this month. That would be more than in March but less than the robust job growth achieved during the winter.

Last week, applications for unemployment aid dipped to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was little changed from the previous week’s figure, the highest since Jan. 7.

The four-week average, a less volatile figure, rose to 381,750, also the highest in three months. When applications fall below 375,000, it generally suggests that hiring will be strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

The figures “aren’t bad; they’re just not as good as they have been,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse.

Applications jumped sharply three weeks ago, a sign that employers had stepped up layoffs and added fewer jobs. Economists said the increase might have been inflated by temporary layoffs during the spring holidays, when many school employees are laid off.

But applications haven’t dropped back since then. And the consensus estimate that the economy will have added about 175,000 jobs in April is well below the average of 250,000 jobs added each month from December through February guaranteed fast personal loans.

The rise in applications follows a report this month that hiring slowed in March, when employers added only 120,000 jobs.

Still, many economists suggested that weather distorted the March jobs report. A warmer winter likely pulled some hiring that normally would have occurred last month into January and February.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke agreed Wednesday that weather has likely disrupted recent data.

The warm winter “made perhaps January and February artificially strong and March perhaps artificially a little bit weak,” he said at a news conference. “I wouldn’t draw too much conclusion from the March report.”

Despite the slowing improvements, the job market appears healthier than it did last year. The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.2 percent from 9.1 percent in August.

Part of the drop came from the fact that people gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but not looking for jobs aren’t counted among the unemployed.

Economists note that unemployment benefit applications remain lower than they were last year. The government’s report next week on April employment should help clarify the jobs picture.

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