European shares continued to cling on to most of their gains by midday today.
But with US stock index futures turning negative after US shares staged their biggest one-day bounce since 1987 yesterday, strategists are cautious.
"This is not just mark-up, there's clearly been some business with it, but we're not seeing a wholesale move back into equities," said Mr Nigel Cobby, managing director for European equities at Deutsche Bank.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was 3.2 per cent higher; the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 3.6 per cent.
The gains were broad-based, with risers outnumbering decliners by about nine-to-one, although telecoms and insurance companies headed the leaderboards.
But strategists said the outlook for European shares remained cloudy and were loathe to say the market had reached a definitive turning point.