Stocks having a strong year

Associated Press

NEW YORK

For all the scary headlines — a bailout of Spanish banks, JPMorgan’s huge trading loss, the sputtering job market, Facebook’s failed initial public offering — it’s a wonder stocks aren’t down more this year.

Actually, stocks aren’t down. At the halfway mark for 2012, stocks are up more than 8 percent.

“People think we’re down because memories are short,” says Rex Macey, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors.

The year began with investors focusing on corporate America’s record profits and scooping up stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index surged 12 percent from January through March.

It looked like that gain might be wiped out in the second quarter. Investors worried about Europe’s inability to find a lasting solution to its debt crisis and about slower job growth in the U.S.

Then came Friday: European leaders announced a broad strategy to funnel money into failing banks and keep borrowing costs down for governments, and stocks soared around the world.