The German market is notably higher on Monday, as investors remain hopeful ahead of the two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve. Fed Chief Ben Bernanke is expected to address some investor concerns after the meeting.
On a day of light economic news, employment in the German manufacturing sector increased modestly in April, preliminary data released by the Federal Statistical Office showed.
Meanwhile, Eurozone's trade in goods with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus in April, which was lower than a month earlier, data from Eurostat revealed.
The Systemic Risk Survey conducted by Bank of England showed that the risk of another financial crisis over the coming three years fell to the lowest since survey began in 2008. The perceived probabilities of a "high-impact event" over both the short term fell to 8 percent and to 24 percent between one and three years ahead.
Asking price for a property in the UK rose to a fresh record high in June, lifted by a jump in prices in the South East and London, the latest survey by Rightmove revealed.
Group of Eight leaders are holding their two-day summit in Northern Ireland with trade being in focus.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 1.65 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 1.37 percent.
The DAX index is climbing 1.4 percent.
Bayer is gaining 3.2 percent. Insurer MunichRe is adding 2.5 percent.
Carmakers Volkswagen and Daimler are notably higher while BMW is up 0.6 percent.
Gagfah is climbing 3.6 percent after Kepler Cheuvreux raised the real estate investment trust to ''Buy'' from ''Hold.''
Elsewhere in Europe, the French CAC 40 is gaining 1.8 percent and Switzerland's SMI is adding 1.5 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is rising 0.9 percent.
Across Asia/Pacific, most markets ended higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.2 percent. Australia's All Ordinaries advanced 0.6 percent while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open. In the previous session, stocks ended firmly in the red, with disappointing industrial production and consumer confidence data weighing on the markets following the previous session's rally. The Dow slid 0.7 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped about 0.6 percent each.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is adding $0.69 to $98.54 per barrel while August gold is losing $1.3 to $1386.3 a troy ounce.
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