Asia Stocks Follow Wall Street Higher

GREG KELLER

PARIS (AP) — Stock markets rose strongly Tuesday after another big advance in China and as investors hoped for strong corporate earnings from the U.S. and looked to a new round of talks in Berlin for progress in solving Europe's debt crisis.

The U.S. economy has shown new signs of strength recently, and investors are hoping that will boost corporate earnings results due to be announced in coming weeks. In particular, signs that the U.S. labor market is improving has raised the possibility of a recovery in American consumer spending, one of the main motors of global economic growth.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 1.5 percent at 5,696 while Germany's DAX rose 2.7 percent to 6,163. France's CAC-40 ended 2.7 percent higher at 3,211. Italy's main market outperformed its peers, traded 3 percent higher as the country's biggest bank UniCredit recouped some lost ground.

The euro fell back a little to $1.2771, but was still above the 16-month low of $1.2676 that it fell to Monday.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 0.5 percent higher at 12,458 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 0.8 percent to 1,291.

Over the coming days, attention is shifting to the U.S. corporate earnings results season, which kicked off, as is traditional, with numbers from aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. The statement encouraged investors as revenues topped expectations and the company suggested the global economy was improving.

"Alcoa posted positive results also helping the positive market sentiment, providing optimism ahead of the US reporting season," said Simon Furlong, a trader at Spreadex.

There was less good corporate news in Europe, where Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics NV warned that its fourth quarter profits were worse than expected due to a weak European market that made it difficult to charge customers as much as it wanted to for light bulbs. Philips shares fell 6 percent to euro14.715 in early trading in Amsterdam.