Wall St rose along with equities in Europe, though gave up some of its earlier gains as shares of drug makers dropped on a tweet by Hilary Clinton that she will detail a plan to curb "price gouging."
Adding to rate hawks, US Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said he expects policy makers to hike interest rates this year. Last Thursday the Fed kept its target rate unchanged.
"As things settle down, I will be ready for the first policy move on the path to a more normal interest-rate environment," Lockhart said in a speech in Atlanta. "I am confident the much-used phrase 'later this year' is still operative."
In New York trading at about 3pm, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.8 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.6 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2 percent.
Gains in shares of Microsoft and those of Visa, last up 2.2 percent and 1.8 percent respectively, helped propel the Dow higher.