Faced with Facebook, Starbucks and Angela Merkel, the market chose to focus on Merkel.

For a second day, the U.S. stock market powered higher on optimism generated by pledges from European leaders, including German chancellor Merkel, to preserve the union of the 17 countries that use the euro.

The Dow Jones industrial rose more than 200 points, bringing it above 13,000 for the first time since May 8.

There were plenty of troubling signs for anyone looking for them: U.S. economic growth was anemic in the second quarter, and Facebook and Starbucks fell heavily after reporting disappointing quarterly results. But on this day, investors chose to focus on the positive.

Read More: ABCnews