European stocks surge on strong US earnings

The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies was up 2.09 percent at 2,917.26 points. Europe's leading stock markets soared on Wednesday in the wake of solid US earnings, cementing their recovery after a slump at the start of the week when a key ratings downgrade shook investors.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index jumped 2.04 percent to 6,017.33 points in late morning trading, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 2.55 percent to 7,219.03 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 2.20 percent to 3,994.55.
The Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone companies was up 2.09 percent at 2,917.26 points.

"What a difference a day makes," said Simon Denham, head of Capital Spreads trading group in London.
"On Monday the world and his wife were running for the hills looking for safer more risk averse investments, but only 24 hours later after strong earnings from IBM, Intel and Goldman Sachs the major indices are all trading back above the levels before the S&P changed its outlook on the US economy to negative."
US stocks notched up solid gains on Tuesday as investors weighed positive company earnings and better-than expected data on the sick housing sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53 percent to close at 12,266.75 points.
"The US stock market continues to be very resilient in light of all the things that have happened year-to-date including the oil price shock, turmoil in the Middle East, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the federal budget showdown, more European bank concerns, negative credit warning on US Treasury securities, and record-high gold prices," said Frederic Dickson at DA Davidson & Co.
The price of gold topped $1,500 an ounce for the first time on Wednesday as a weakened dollar plus fears over high inflation and countries' debt attracted investors to the safehaven precious metal. Gold reached $1,504.25 an ounce at 0915 GMT on the London Bullion Market.
Gold's rise helped boost the share prices of miners in London, with Xstrata up 3.67 percent to 1,512 pence and Rio Tinto gaining 2.88 percent to 4,352.5 pence.

In Paris, Peugeot rallied 3.7 percent to 28.17 euros after the French auto group reported a 10.2-percent surge in sales in the first quarter and stood by operating forecasts for 2011 despite the impact of disruption in Japan.
Asian stock markets meanwhile closed higher as traders were buoyed by gains on Wall Street while also picking up undervalued stocks following the previous day's heavy losses.