U.S. stock market indexes rose in Tuesday's early trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced a third of a percent, the S&P 500 rose a half-percent and the NASDAQ gained six-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were higher in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained eight-tenths of a percent, the CAC 40 in Paris moved up 1.2 percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt jumped nine-tenths of a percent.

Earlier Tuesday in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.1 percent to finish at 9,460. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also rose nearly 1.2 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,851.

The price of gold rose nearly $4 to trade at $1,544.50 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.