stock market ticker today

The major headlines in the stock market today include Europe's latest rescue effort, cautious optimism on U.S. jobs, and these big-name stocks leading the rally:

• ECB unveils unlimited bond buying plan- European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi announced in Frankfurt today (Thursday) that the ECB will embark on a drastic new bond-buying plan. The new program, called "Outright Monetary Transactions," allows the ECB to buy bonds with maturities between one and three years without announcing any limits in advance, as long as the government in question is under a program approved by the Eurozone. The plan is aimed at stabilizing interest rates in the euro area and will require countries such as Spain and Italy to request aid from the ECB to activate the bond purchases.
  
  "Under appropriate conditions, we will have a fully effective backstop to avoid destructive scenarios with potentially severe challenges for price stability in the euro area," Draghi said at a press conference. "Governments must stand ready to activate the EFSF/ESM in the bond market when exceptional financial-market circumstances and risks to financial stability exist -- with strict and effective conditionality. The ECB reserves the right to terminate bond purchases if governments don't fulfill their part of the bargain." The ECB held its benchmark rate at its record low level of 0.75%. Draghi announced that the ECB won't claim the status of a senior creditor if the bonds it buys have to be restructured and that the purchases will be "sterilized" meaning there will be no impact on the monetary supply.

• Home prices show strong improvement- The S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased for the fifth month in a row as prices in June on a non-seasonally adjusted basis were up 2.3% from the previous year and ahead of expectations for a 2.2% increase. Home prices rose 6.9% in the three months ended June 30 compared to the first three months of 2012. The index, which measures single-family homes and covers more than 80% of the housing market in the United States, continues to back up the belief that the housing market has finally turned a corner. "We seem to be witnessing exactly what we needed for a sustained recovery; monthly increases coupled with improving annual rates of change," said David Blitzer, a spokesman for Standard & Poor's, in a statement. "The market may have finally turned around."

• Consumer confidence falls to nine-month low- As worries over the economy escalate and more Americans are unemployed consumer confidence slipped to its lowest level since last November. In August, consumer confidence, measured by the Conference Board's Confidence Index, fell to 60.6 from 65.4. Economists had hoped the index would rise slightly to 66. The board's future expectations sub-index dropped to 70.7 from 78.4, while the present-conditions index was basically unchanged at 45.

• Mario Draghi to skip Jackson Hole- President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi was expected to be the keynote speaker Saturday September 1 in the second day of the Jackson Hole, WY Symposium. Draghi will not attend due to his heavy workload regarding the strategy of the ECB's new bond-buying plan. Details regarding the European Stability Mechanism and other measures to improve the Eurozone debt crisis are expected to be announced at the ECB's next meeting Sept. 6.