The FTSE 100 bounced back this morning after a seven-day losing streak that wiped more than 500 points off the blue-chip index.
London's top 100 shares are up 75.52 points to 4196.63, powered in particular by strong gains in the mining sector.
The US government's bailout of Bank of America and the Irish government's nationalisation of Anglo Irish have also steadied investors' nerves.
Banking stocks here have made some, albeit unspectacular, gains this morning after two days of heavy selling.
Lloyds TSB, in its last day of trading before absorbing HBOS, gained 4% to 107.6p.
Yesterday the shares fell to their lowest level since 1989 as fears for the health of the banking system intensified on both sides of the Atlantic.
Barclays, which has axed more than 4,000 jobs this week, rose more than 2% at 133.2p
Royal Bank of Scotland was also heading in the right direction, up almost 7% to 42.6p.
That's still a low way south of the 65.5p at which the government bought its 58% stake.
And HSBC, which analysts at Morgan Stanley believe needs up to $30bn in fresh capital, is edged up 2p to 549.5p.
