World stocks rise amid hopes for China stimulus

World stock markets moved higher after a choppy start Tuesday as hopes for new measures to boost China's economy outweighed worries about the health of Spanish banks.

Asian stock markets were choppy Tuesday amid new worries about the health of Spanish banks and their potential to worsen Europe's debt crisis.

World stocks moved modestly higher Thursday, underpinned by speculation that China's central bank will ease monetary policy next week when Chinese and Hong Kong markets are closed for an extended holiday.

The past few months have been characterized by major developments across global markets as traditional safe-haven investments that surged in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis have finally begun to lose their luster, and riskier assets have outperformed against everything else. Markets saw this start to unfold first in the currency sphere, as investors started once again to exchange Swiss francs for euros and sell the Japanese yen (which rose to multi-year highs following the financial crisis) in force.