U.S. stock market indexes rose in Wednesday's early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced three-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 rose four-tenths of a percent and the NASDAQ gained one-tenth of a percent.

European stock markets were higher in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained 1.2 percent, the CAC-40 in Paris moved up 1.8 percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt jumped 1.6 percent.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index rose 1.5 percent to finish at 9,797. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed at 22,061, unchanged from Tuesday.

The price of gold rose more than $5 to trade at $1,506.68 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.