Stocks in the United States rebounded on Monday, climbing 1% and recovering last week's losses.
Technology and energy shares led gains on the S&P 500, pointing to bets on a stronger economy.
Data showing homebuilder sentiment jumped in June to the highest in seven years since the start of the housing crisis helped support stocks.
Consensus is building that the time is approaching when the the Federal Reserve will scale down its policy of buying $US85 billion worth of bonds each month, but investors are anxious to find out when the Fed will start to wind down the stimulus.
The Dow Jones Index was up 0.7%, at 15,183, The S&P 500 index was up 0.6% at 1,636 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.9% at 3,455.
In Europe: the FTSE100 index in London was up 0.35%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.08% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.54%.
Both the New Zealand and Australian stock markets ended in positive territory on Monday.
The Australian 200 Index closed up 0.7% at 4,826 and the NZX 50 closed up 0.6% at 4,448.
At 7am on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 79.79 US cents.
Brent crude oil was flat at $105.29 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1381.50 per ounce.
