U.S. and European stock prices rebounded Thursday after the head of the European Central Bank raised hopes for some additional economic stimulus.
Oil prices also rose above $29 a barrel.
At the close of New York trading, the S&P 500 had advanced half a percent, the NASDAQ had risen two-tenths of a percent and the Dow Jones industrial average gained seven-tenths of a percent.
Stocks had been on pace for much larger gains earlier in the day. The Dow was up 272 points shortly after noon, which would have canceled out Wednesday's loss.
London's FTSE advanced nearly 1.8 percent Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.9 percent and the DAX rose almost 2 percent.
Earlier, Asian markets swung wildly but were down at the close, continuing their recent slide over concerns about plummeting oil prices, slowing economic growth in China and the global economy. Tokyo's market was off nearly 2.5 percent, Shanghai dropped over 3 percent and Hong Kong ended down nearly 2 percent.
Euro down
European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said the ECB would consider using more stimulus measures at its next meeting in March as it tries to bolster the European economy. The prospect of more stimulus sent the euro down to $1.0875 from $1.0894 late Wednesday.
The ECB has been buying government-backed bonds as part of its efforts to stimulate the region's economy. Yields on 10-year bonds issued by European countries dropped following Draghi's remarks. That suggests investors expect government bond prices to rise further.
The oil price rise came a day after U.S. crude took its biggest one-day loss since September. Energy stocks have crumbled as the price of oil has fallen from $100 a barrel in mid-2014. The price of oil is the lowest it's been since 2003.
Some information for this report came from AP.
