European stocks rose sharply Wednesday as robust corporate results offset weak economic data.
Dealers said the gains, led by Paris, Milan and Madrid, were surprising after the latest data showed US durable goods orders slumping, another sign the US recovery could be in trouble.
At the same time, strong company results, highlighted by Apple's outperformance, supported markets which have sold off heavily in recent weeks on concerns over the economic outlook.
A strong start on Wall Street driven by gains of 10 percent in Apple's share price provided an additional lead but notably London missed out on the rally after figures showed the economy slumping back into recession.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies closed up just 0.16 percent at 5,718.89 points but Frankfurt, the DAX 30 gained 1.73 percent to 6,704.50 points and in Paris the CAC 40 jumped 2.02 percent to 3,233.46 points.
Madrid gained 1.70 percent while Milan jumped 2.92 percent.
In foreign exchange deals, the European single currency was firmer at $1.3208, up from $1.3192 in New York late Tuesday.
In New York, blockbuster profits from Apple meant sharp gains from the opening, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.59 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 1.93 percent at around 1550 GMT.
Heavyweight Apple, the world's biggest company by market value, surprised worried investors who had sent its shares down 2.0 percent Tuesday, ahead of its results released after the market closed.
Apple said net income in its second quarter nearly doubled from a year ago, to $11.6 billion, thanks to record sales of iPhones and iPad tablet computers.
"Apple stock is now so significant that traders look at it as almost a separate index, a leading indicator for the stock market as a whole," said Dick Green at Briefing.com.
"The jump in the stock ... has had a broad positive impact across almost all sectors," Green said.
Apple shares shot up 10.0 percent to $616.40 and analysts were raising their targets for the company to above $1,000.
Britain sank back into recession as its economy contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter, official data showed Wednesday amid painful state cutbacks and fallout from the debt crisis in key trading partner the eurozone.
A recession is defined as two successive quarters of contraction. Britain's economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The US Federal Reserve completes its monthly rate-setting meeting Wednesday, while a news briefing afterwards by chairman Ben Bernanke may offer hints to the economy's direction.
Shares were also recovering after big losses at the start of the week that were caused by political uncertainty in France and the Netherlands and weak manufacturing figures from China and the eurozone.
"UK GDP numbers proved disappointing but made little impact on (share) prices," said analyst Mike Mason at Sucden Financial Private Clients.
"Bank and miners remain steady, adding an air of stability. Recent US corporate earning, to which Apple added the cream ... seem to be calming market nerves for now at least.
"Expect the market to remain quietly steady in the run-up (to) when the Fed statement will be dissected for clues to further (stimulus)," he added.
In Asian trade earlier Wednesday, Tokyo climbed 0.98 percent and Hong Kong slipped 0.15 percent.
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