Oil bounces

London

Oil´s rise back above $50 a barrel helped prod stock markets higher on Wednesday, while company results and economic data continued to soothe worries that the world economy may be ripe for a another slowdown.

European stock markets rose around half a percent, led by energy and commodity-linked firms after Brent crude topped the $50 mark for the first time since early June and copper added another 1 percent to this week´s surge. A slightly less bullish performance in Asia pulled the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 46 countries, off all-time highs overnight. But early in the European session, it was up 0.1 percent on the day, and U.S. stocks futures showed Wall Street should edge higher on opening. Strong results from energy firms Subsea 7 and Tullow Oil helped shares, but banks weighed on index-level gains as investors awaited the outcome later on Wednesday of the Federal Reserve´s two-day policy meeting.