In the US yesterday the Dow Jones was up 2.23% on the day and closed at 10,114.2, the first time it has been over 10,000 since the 5th September.
The Nasdaq was up 4.27% and broke through the 2000 barrier to close at 2046.84.
Irish companies on the Nasdaq which saw big increases to their share price were IONA, up 12.93% to 18.86 and SmartForce, up 8.5% to 24.90.
In London the FTSE rose 121.4 points to close at 5333.5