U.S. stocks moved up in Thursday's early trading, soaring about one percent on strong earning reports from cell-phone maker Motorola, McDonald's resturants and the on-line auction house, e-bay.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 100 points to reach 10,112. That is a sharp change from Wednesday, when the Dow hit a low for the year. The S & P 500 also made a strong 12-point gain to reach 1,149, while the NASDAQ climbed 24 points to hit 1,937.
European share prices also posted gains in mid-day trading. London's Financial Times index, the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX index in Frankfurt all moved up three-tenths of a percent or more.
Earlier in Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei Average tumbled 104 points (about one per cent) to finish at 10,984. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed 96 points higher at 13,597.
The price of gold is down 25 cents, trading at 434 dollars and 35 cents an ounce in New York.
The dollar in London is higher against the yen and the euro.