European stocks traded higher Tuesday, following Monday’s rally on Wall Street, helped by upbeat earnings from Citigroup and news that the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 in favor of filing civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index was 0.6% higher at 5760.41, Germany’s DAX rose 0.7% to 6202.92 and France’s CAC-40 index gained 0.6% to 3992.72.

«Last week’s SEC ruling against Goldman Sachs had certainly been weighing on the banks and, in turn, pressuring the major indices, but traders are now looking forward to Goldman’s earnings, which are due for release later today, and some solid numbers here have the potential to help extend the rally once again,» said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets.

On Monday, U.S. stocks edged higher, recovering some of the Friday decline caused partly by the SEC’s civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, as strong earnings from Citigroup and analysts’ positive comments on DuPont and McDonald’s encouraged investors.

News that the U.S. Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators posted a large gain in March also helped, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 11,092.1. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1% to 2480.1, but the Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 0.5% to 1197.6. Read the rest of this entry »