U.S. stocks made strong gains in Friday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose seven-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 advanced nine-tenths of a percent while the NASDAQ moved up eight-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were higher at the close of Friday's trading. London's Financial Times 100 index was up 1.2 percent to close at 5,466. The CAC-40 in Paris gained one percent to finish at 3.218 while the DAX in Frankfurt advanced nine-tenths of a percent to hit 5,967.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost nine-tenths of a percent , to close at 8,748. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.4 percent , to end at 18,502.

The price of gold rose more than $9 to trade at $1,677.25 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was up against the yen but lost value compared to the euro.