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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Wall Street’s new found optimism turned out to be contagious. After yesterday’s sharp rally in New York, European stock markets caught the bug. They all opened higher this morning. From London, Stephen Beard reports.

STEPHEN BEARD: London, Paris and Frankfurt were all in buoyant mood this morning. For the second day running the main market indices jumped more than one percent.

Once again Europe is taking its cue from the US. Markets here were cheered by Wall Street’s rally following a speech by Ben Bernanke. The Fed Chairman appeared to change tack on inflation says analyst Stephen Ford

STEPHEN FORD: He gave a very measured appraisal of inflation which was a lot softer than some of the very hawkish rhetoric that he’s been using and the markets were calmed by that.

Bernanke’s remarks soothed investor fears that global interest rates might be heading much higher. But most analysts here say it may be too soon to call an end to the recent downturn. Any bad news might see investors bailing out again.

In London this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.