Stocks have rallied in the United States, with investors betting the US Federal Reserve will act once again to try and kickstart the stuttering economy.
The Fed has already carried out two rounds of quantitative easing - buying US debt to inject more cash into the financial system.
Earlier this month, the Fed took the unusual step of saying that it expected to keep short-term interest rates close to zero until 2013.
New home sales in the United States fell more than expected in July to a five-month low.
The Dow Jones Index rose 322 points, or 3%, on Tuesday to 11,117. The Nasdaq Composite was up 101 points, or 4.3%, at 2446.
In Europe: the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.7%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.1% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.1%
Earlier, the Nikkei in Japan was up 105 points to 8733. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 2% to 19,875.
The Australian 200 Index rose 91 points, or 2.2%, to 4173. The NZX 50 fell 5 points, or 0.1%, to 3270.
At 8.30am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was at 83.54 US cents, 79.37 Australian cents, 50.61 pence, 63.99 yen and 0.5782 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 71.50.
Brent crude oil fell to $US111.15 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1844.64 per ounce.
