U.S. stock market indexes advanced sharply in midday trading Thursday, one day after a massive sell-off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is ahead 2.6 percent, while the broader S & P 500 is up nearly 3 percent. The NASDAQ is ahead by 3.2 percent.

Major European indexes closed markedly higher.

London's Financial Times index ended up 3.1 percent to close at 5,163. The CAC-40 in Paris finished ahead 2.9 percent to end at 3,090. The DAX index in Frankfurt advanced 3.3 percent to close at 5,798.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped six-tenths of one percent to finish at 8,982.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1 percent to finish the day's trading at 19,595.

Gold is trading down $31.97 at $1,761.30 an ounce.

The dollar is lower in trading against both the yen and euro.