Stocks rose on Wall St on Tuesday as bank earnings reassured investors about the sector and overshadowed debt worries and signs of slowing growth elsewhere in the globe.
Bank of America reported a third-quarter profit boosted by accounting gains and asset sales, while Goldman Sachs reported a rare loss but said it's moving to cut costs, including employee pay.
The Dow Jones Index was up 204 points, or 1.8%, at 11,600. The Nasdaq Composite was up 46 points, or 1.8%, to 2661.
In Europe, the FTSE-100 in London was down 0.5%, the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.7% and the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.3%.
The Nikkei index in Tokyo was down 138 points to 8742 and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 4.3%.
The Australian 200 Index was down 89 points, or 2.1%, to 41 87. The NZX 50 rose 14 points, or 0.4%, to close at 3317.
At 8.28am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 79.87 US cents, 77.57 Australian cents, 50.69 pence, 60.36 yen and 0.5778 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.85.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US112.07 per barrel and gold is trading at $US1651.09 per ounce.
