After a day of sharp swings U.S. stock indexes closed higher Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of 143 points, 1.3 percent, to close at 11,154. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.34 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,160. The Nasdaq composite index lost 10.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,481.

European stock indexes ended mixed.

London's Financial Times index closed down four-tenths of one percent to end at 5,197. The CAC-40 in Paris finished up 1.1 percent to close at 3,028. The DAX index in Frankfurt also advanced 1.1 percent , to 5,640.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index rose one percent to finish at 8,701.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was closed due to the threat posed by Typhoon Nesat.

Gold fell 80 cents to end at $1,617.30 an ounce

The dollar traded up against the yen and the euro.