There was a bit more optimism in the stock markets on Tuesday and the sell-off seems to have stopped for the moment.

European indexes rose, with Frankfurt gaining 11 percent, but that was again due to the hunt for Volkswagen shares.

Investors are taking advantage of share price falls to buy bargains, but they remain nervous about the global economic slowdown and are not sure if this bounce is anything other than a brief recovery.

The Bank of England said in its twice yearly financial stability report that global intervention should steady the banking system but will also put big constraints on banks. And financial stocks continued to lose value.

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