Wall Street bounces back but Europe falls despite QE launch
Wall Street has bounced back from its heavy losses last week, but European stocks lost ground despite the beginning of the region's trillion euro money printing program.
In the US the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 139 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 17,996.
The broader S&P 500 added 0.4 per cent (8 points) to 2,079.
The growing likelihood that the Federal Reserve will soon begin raising US interest rates has been weighing on the market of late, but investors appeared to decide the recent losses were an opportunity for bargain hunting.
Apple stocks gave the market a minor boost, closing up 0.4 per cent after the long awaited launch of the company's first smart watches. Investors did not seem immediately convinced the watches will be a success though, with Apple shares fluctuating widely, including trading lower at times during the session.
Across the Atlantic markets mostly fell, though modestly, after eurozone finance ministers warned Greece it must move faster to meet the commitments attached to its debt bailout.
That was despite the rollout of the first 60 billion euro tranche of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program.
The Euro Stoxx index closed down 0.2 per cent (7 points) at 3,610.
France's CAC 40 fell nearly 0.6 per cent (27 points) to 4,937 and London's FTSE 100 lost 0.5 per cent (35 points) to 6,876.
The German DAX was a notable exception, adding just over 0.25 per cent (31 points) to 11,582.
Local futures trade suggests Australian shares will follow Wall Street higher today, in contrast to yesterday's losses; The ASX SPI 200 was 12 points, or 0.2 per cent, higher at 5,827 at 8:00am (AEDT).
At the same time the Australian dollar was buying around 77 US cents, 71 euro cents, 50.9 British pence and 93.4 Japanese yen.
Spot gold was a little higher at $US1,167 an ounce.
West Texas crude oil rose 0.7 per cent to $US49.90 a barrel.
Brent crude fell 0.8 per cent to $US59.31 a barrel.
