U.S. stock market indexes made gains in Wednesday's trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.3 percent to close at 11,321. The S&P 500 gained 1.3 percent to end at 1,178, while the Nasdaq composite index rose nine-tenths of a percent to hit 2,468.

European stock markets were higher at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained 1.5 percent to end at 5,206. The CAC-40 index in Paris moved up 1.8 percent to finish at 3,140, and the DAX in Frankfurt jumped 2.7 percent to hit 5,681.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 1.1 percent to finish at 8,640, wiping out gains made early in the day's trading. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.1 percent to finish the day's trading at 19,467.

The price of gold fell nearly $64 to trade at $1,764.83 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.