The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 193.45 points, or 1.8pc, at 10944.72, its strongest since May 3. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fared just as well, ending up 2.1pc at 1160.75.
Investors’ confidence was lifted on a day that began with Australia’s central bank unexpectedly deciding to keep interest rates on hold, rather than raise them, and ended with Charles Evans, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, arguing that the Fed must do more to spur growth in the world’s biggest economy.
In between, the Japanese central bank delivered a surprise rate cut and pledged to buy more bonds. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.5pc at 9,518. 76 as did markets across Europe. The FTSE 100 finished 79.79 points higher at 5,635.76.
“Central banks didn’t have a choice but to take steps like this, and it’s what the market wanted to see,” said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York.
However, it wasn’t just central bankers that lifted markets on Wall Street. A widely-watched index of America’s services industry from the Institute for Supply Management rose more than expected last month.
Investors also eyed with some optimism the third-quarter earnings season for US companies, which aluminium producer Alcoa kicks off on Thursday.
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