Wall Street posted its best performance in nearly 90 years last night, as indices rallied on hopes that lawmakers would soon agree on a massive stimulus package to blunt the coronavirus' economic impact.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 11.4% to end the session at 20,705, its biggest one-day percentage increase since 1933.
The tech-rich Nasdaq gained 8.1% to close at 7,418, while the broad-based S&P 500 finished the day at 2,447, a gain of 9.4%.
Investors rallied on expectations the US Congress was close to reaching an agreement on a stimulus package totaling $2 trillion or higher to get Americans spending again and ensure businesses don't go under after the coronavirus forced entire cities and states to lockdown.
European shares surged, recovering a week's worth of losses as the prospect of some stability from recent stimulus measures saw buying into markets wallowing around seven-year lows.
London's FTSE 100 saw its best day since the huge swings of the 2008 financial crash on Tuesday, retracing some of the past week's losses as massive stimulus efforts globally calmed investors amid the rapid spread of coronavirus.
The FTSE 100 index jumped 9.1% after closing at a more than eight-year low in the previous session, as investors cheered the US Federal Reserve's offer of unlimited expansion of asset purchases and a $2-trillion stimulus package that US lawmakers are closing in on.
The upbeat global mood took over markets despite countries going into lockdown.
The ISEQ Index of Irish shares closed 7% higher to 4,781.29. Shares in Ryanair closed 10% higher and shares in Dalata Hotel Group jumped 11%.
Europe's so-called fear gauge fell to 52.53, its lowest in nearly two weeks, after having spiked to 12-year highs earlier in the month.
Earlier in Asian trade Tokyo's Nikkei index jumped by 1,204 points (7.1%) to close at 18,092 boosted by a weak yen and aggressive asset-buying from the Bank of Japan and following huge support measures from the US Federal Reserve during the virus outbreak, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 963 points (4.4%) to finish at 22,633.
