U.S. stock indexes advanced sharply in midday trading Tuesday after the huge sell-off on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is ahead 2.1 percent, the broader S & P 500 2.8 percent and the NASDAQ by 3.5 percent.

In Europe, London's Financial Times 100 index jumped 1.9 percent to end at 5,165, while the CAC-40 in Paris closed up 1.6 percent to finish at 3,176.

The DAX in Frankfurt dropped one-tenth of a percent to end the day's trading at 5,917.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei index ended down 1.7 percent to close at 8,944.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 5.7 percent to end at 19,331.

Gold was trading up $19.50 at $1,738.95 an ounce.

The dollar is down against the yen and euro.