U.S. stock market indexes rose in Tuesday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 advanced one percent, while the NASDAQ gained 1.2 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 5,767. The CAC-40 in Paris jumped 1.5 percent to finish at 3,852 while the DAX in Frankfurt moved up nine-tenths of a percent to hit 7,170.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained seven-tenths of a percent to finish at 9,649. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose one-tenth of a percent to finish the day's trading at 22,062.

The price of gold gained more than $3 to trade at $1,501.60 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen but lost value compared to the euro.