Equities on both sides of the Atlantic rose overnight with the price of oil, while US Federal Reserve policy makers began their two-day meeting.
Investors are bracing for the first Fed interest rate increase since 2006, and will listen closely to comments Chair Janet Yellen makes at a news conference on Wednesday for clues about the path ahead.
The probability the Fed will lift its benchmark rate on Wednesday is 78 percent, according to futures data compiled by Bloomberg. Traders are pricing in less than three increases of 0.25 percentage point in the next year, taking the fed funds effective rate to 0.76 percent from 0.14 percent.
The latest inflation data helped. A Labor Department report showed the consumer price index was unchanged in November, after a 0.2 percent increase in October. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 0.2 percent in November for a third straight month.
"This report should shore up the Fed's confidence in the inflation outlook as the firming in domestic prices will likely serve as a confidence booster in their expectation for inflation to move back towards target in a timely manner," Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York, told Reuters.