French conglomerate Bouygues (BOUY.PA) moved to address the sharp fall in its share price on Wednesday with a planned 1.25 billion euro ($1.81 billion) share buyback program, sending the stock higher.

AOL Inc (AOL.N) shares rose more than 7 percent on Wednesday, a day after New York Post reported that the Internet company's management may be considering to take the company private.

U.S. stocks traded higher Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1% to 11678, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 1.1% to 1227 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 24 points to 2600.