World stock markets rose sharply on Thursday.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.7 percent to end at 11,123. The S&P 500 soared 1.8 percent to close at 1,165, while the NASDAQ gained 1.9 percent to finish at 2,507.

European stocks made strong gains. London's Financial Times index ended up 3.7 percent to close at 5,291. The CAC-40 in Paris advanced 3.4 percent to finish at 3,075. The DAX index in Frankfurt moved 3.2 percent higher to end at 5,645.

Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.7 percent to finish at 8,522. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 5.7 percent to finish the day's trading at 17,172.

The price of gold increased nearly $12 to trade at $1,652.63 an ounce.

The dollar was down against both the yen and euro.