U.S. financial markets are moving higher in midday trading, with health care stocks among the biggest gainers.
Some encouraging news from Japan and Germany also helped lift markets.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index added eight points, or 0.4 per cent, to 2,049 as of 11:55 a.m. Eastern time.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,688. The Nasdaq composite gained 25 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 4,696.
Nokia rose 4 per cent after the Finnish technology company said it would introduce a tablet computer that runs the Android operating system.
Urban Outfitters sank 9 per cent after its latest quarterly earnings missed analysts' forecasts.
The price of oil fell $1.21 to $74.44 a barrel in New York. That helped send energy stocks lower.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.