U.S. stock market indexes made strong gains in Monday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose seven-tenths of a percent. The S&P 500 advanced half a percent while the NASDAQ jumped six-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were mixed at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index rose 1.1 percent to close at 5,095. The CAC-40 in Paris moved up 1.1 percent to end at 3,051 while the DAX in Frankfurt lost one-tenth of a percent to finish at 5,474.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped one percent to close at 8,628. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up half a percent to end at 19,487.

The price of gold rose more than $29 to trade at $1,881.30 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.