U.S. stock market indexes rose in Thursday's middday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose nine-tenths of a percent and the NASDAQ gained half a percent.

European stock markets were higher at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained eight-tenths of a percent to end at 5,856. The CAC-40 in Paris moved up 1.1 percent to finish at 3,879, and the DAX in Frankfurt jumped 1.4 percent to 7,160.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained two-tenths of a percent to close at 9,467. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost two-tenths of a percent to finish the day's trading at 22,610.

The price of gold rose more than $8 to trade at $1,546.00 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.