The FTSE 100 has rallied on the back of a strong opening on Wall Street, and is up 2.6% at 6302.7 after falls in the last two days - so much so that only two stocks on the index of 100 leading shares are in the red
It seems that a strong performance by banking stocks in the US and in the UK has helped the rally both in London and on the other side of the Atlantic.
There are also strong expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month following remarks by the Fed's vice chairman Donald Kohn. The latter has said the Fed's policy makers should be flexible in setting policy, due to high uncertainties in the economic outlook. He added the Fed would look at the stress in credit markets when they met next month. This, people say, could indicate a rate cut in December.
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's Dax is up 2.4%, and France's CAC 40 gains 2.4%. And Europe's FTSE Eurofirst 300 is heading towards its largest one-day rise since April 2003.
National Grid and Resolution are the only fallers on the FTSE 100.
