After a torrid rally in the last two days of a brutal October helped offset some of the losses in the worst month for global equities in more than six years, world markets started off November in a sea of green with gains in Asian and European markets, and S&P futures pointed to a higher open buoyed by upbeat earnings and hope that today’s Apple earnings will ease more “growth” and tech stock concerns, while sterling rallied on reports that Britain and the European Union are close to a post-Brexit deal on financial services, even though a government official has since denied the report.

After October’s drubbing which saw global markets drop 7.5%, their worst month since May 2012, as shares took a battering on a number of factors ranging from trade wars to concerns about the global economy and higher U.S. interest rates, the MSCI All-Country World Index was up 0.3% on the first day of November. The recent rally has helped the S&P rise above its long-term uptrend.

Futures on the S&P 500 jumped after the European open, having traded mixed for much of the overnight session, and rising 0.6% as of 7am ET.

European markets followed a strong start in Asia, with robust company earnings helping the pan-European STOXX 600 index hit a  two-week high with miners and carmakers leading the way higher. And while strong results from the likes of ING Groep helped push European banking shares higher, not all the news was positive, with Royal Dutch Shell falling after profit fell short of expectations. At the same time, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% as the pound strengthened on a report – since denied – that Britain and the EU are close to a deal that would give financial services firms in the UK continued access to European markets once Brexit happens.

Earlier in the session, Asian shares also posted advances with MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 0.7%, adding to modest gains the previous day. The index had fallen 10.2% in October, its worst monthly performance since August 2015.

Earlier in Asia, markets enjoyed Wall Street’s improved mood and rose for a second day on Wednesday as strong company results and bargain hunting of beaten-down technology and internet favorites lifted spirits, despite an air pocket late in the session which cut the Dow’s 400 point gain in half in a manner of minutes. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.5 percent on Thursday and the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.2%, closing barely green after stronger gains earlier in the session.

China’s yuan rallied from the weakest level in a decade as the country’s leadership signaled that further stimulus measures are being planned.

Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend and slipped 1% following two days of big gains.

“What we are seeing is the equity markets trying to rebound after bottoming out. Corporate earnings in the U.S. and Japanese markets have been relatively strong on the whole, which means there are plenty of bargain hunting opportunities,” said Soichiro Monji, senior economist at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo.

The big currency mover overnight was the pound, which surged after reports that U.K. and European negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to give U.K. financial services companies access to European markets, however, on Thursday morning this report was denied by a government official, paring some of the gains.

Sterling’s rally nudged the dollar off its recent peak, with the DXY index sliding 0.6% to 96.539. The index had spiked to a 16-month high of 97.20 overnight after the ADP report showed U.S. private sector payrolls increased by the most in eight months in October. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for its biggest loss in nearly three weeks as profit taking was the name of the game, given multiple signals the latest move was overdone versus other Group-of-10 currencies.

The Australian dollar and the Kiwi dollar were also sharply higher, rising 1.2% and 1.4% respectively after strong domestic trade data helped offset some of the concerns about slowing growth in China – Australia’s biggest trading partner. “We’ve got a reasonably risk-friendly market, and with the new month we have some dollar selling,” said Kit Juckes, a strategist at Societe Generale.

The Scandinavian currencies – the Norwegian crown and Swedish crown – a proxy for overall risk, also rallied as did the euro, which rose over half a percent to $1.1376 after retreating to $1.1302 on Wednesday, its lowest since mid-August. The single currency has been weighed by less-than-stellar economic news from the eurozone.

In commodities, WTI futures were down 0.86 percent at $64.75 per barrel after its worst month in more than two years, and Brent crude lost 1.13 percent to $74.19 per barrel. The two benchmarks remained on the back foot after falling more than $10 from a four-year peak reached early in October as broader market ructions were seen hurting demand for fuel.