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According to Reuters, the benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 per cent at 15:12 BST, rising to 860.74 points from a low of 842.26 earlier in the day.
The rally, which may be welcomed by those involved in stock market trading, came after industry group the Conference Board revealed that its consumer attitudes index rose to 54.9 last month, up from 40.8 in April.
This was the biggest monthly increase since April 2003 and helped US markets to rally, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all rising by between 1.6 and 2.2 per cent.
London's FTSE 100 also bounced back from this morning's loss, climbing to 4,407.36 points - an increase of 0.96 per cent - at 15:45 BST, with mining firm Eurasian Natural Resources leading the recovery, followed by Tesco and engineering company Amec.
