Banks began to recover in Europe as the markets there saw big gains.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 2.73 percent higher to 1,550.62.
Frankfurt’s Dax gained 2.32 percent to 7,750.84, while the IBEX added 3.19 percent to 14,487.8 in Madrid and the Paris CAC-40 was up 3.27 percent to 5,730.82.
Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) topped the leaders on the Dax with a gain of 5.51 percent to €28.91, while Deutsche Bank was 4.27 percent higher to €94.19.
In Paris, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO; 8665) was up 5.14 percent to €78 and Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) jumped 6.88 percent to €121.31.
Insurers also did well.
Allianz (FWB: ALV; NYSE: AZ) gained 4.17 percent to €157.97, while AXA (Euronext: CS; NYSE: AXA) was up 5.42 percent to €30.33.
The best performance on the CAC-40, however, came from Michelin (Euronext: ML), which was 7.03 percent higher to €90.57.
The tire maker was helped by the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates in the US, which is its biggest market.
There was only one loser on the day on the CAC-40, where eyeglass lens maker Essilor International (Euronext: EF) dropped 0.16 percent to €43.19.
The worst performance on the Dax came from the health care sector as Fresenius Medical Care (FWB: FREG) fell 0.77 percent to €37.29.