Wall Street has joined the global market rally following the move by central banks to pump more dollar liquidity into the financial system.
As EU officials - along with the US Treasury secretary - meet in Poland to discuss the Greek crisis, there is still hope the country can avoid a default, at least for the moment, despite the EU deferring a decision on the next tranche of its bailout.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has added more than 70 points, helped by US consumer confidence edging up in September. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index rose from 55.7 in August to 57.8, slightly better than forecasts of around 56.9. But the gauge of consumer expectations fell to 47, its lowest level since May 1980, so perhaps the champagne should be kept on ice for now. Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy said:
The improvement is welcome news but we still very close to the record lows seen during the 2008-9 recession. News of the Obama jobs' programme to support the labour market might have supported consumer confidence in early September.
But with the Dow moving higher, the FTSE 100 is now up 52.57 points at 5390.11, while Germany's Dax is 2% better and France's Cac has climbed just under 1%.
