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European stocks started with a spring in their step too, as confirmation that Germany saw robust growth last year prompted the biggest rise of the year so far for Frankfurt's DAX.
The German benchmark's near 1% gain was complimented by smaller but still significant gains on bourses elsewhere in the region, taking the FTSEurofirst 300 index to a fresh 5-1/2 year high.
"German consumption turned out to be especially robust last year," said Dekabank economist Andreas Scheuerle. "With the shackles of the sovereign debt crisis being loosened, this year should lead to considerably stronger growth."
Helping the better mood overall, the World Bank upgraded its forecast for global growth this year by two tenths of a point to 3.2%, and predicted a faster pace for both 2015 and 2016.
While the bank trimmed forecasts for some developing nations, including China, growth in emerging markets as a whole was seen accelerating to 5.3% this year.
Data from China on Wednesday showed new bank lending and money supply growth missed forecasts for December, suggesting the central bank's efforts to put the brakes on credit expansion to contain debt levels is gaining traction.
Shares in Shanghai dipped 0.4%, but there was little obvious impact elsewhere in the region.
"The performance of advanced economies is gaining momentum, and this should support stronger growth in developing countries in the months ahead," said World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim.
US CONSUMPTION ON THE UP
The dollar was also back in vogue. It extended its rally to 104.35 yen, leaving behind Tuesday's trough of 103.00. It also firmed against the euro, which was last worth $1.3611 and was also weaker against the yen at 142.03 yen.
The US currency had sprung ahead on Tuesday after retail data soothed worries raised by last week's disappointing payrolls report. While the headline measure of retail sales rose only a modest 0.2%, a core measure favoured by analysts beat all expectations with a jump of 0.7%.
"Growth in final sales, particularly household consumption, appears to have picked up sharply in Q4," said Barclays economist Peter Newland. The bank lifted its forecasts for economic growth in the quarter to an annualised 3.5%.
That, combined with a burst of merger activity and earnings beats by Wells Fargo
Futures prices pointed to some additional ground being made when Wall Street reopens, though with another flurry of earnings due, plus the NY Empire manufacturing survey and December PPI data on tap, moves were set to be cautious.
CHOPPY MOVES
The better economic news left 10-year US Treasury yields up 5 basis points at 2.87%, while Germany's growth also inched up Bund yields.
Price moves have been choppy recently as the market tries to second-guess the speed of tapering by the Federal Reserve, and when it might actually start raising interest rates.
Two of the most hawkish Fed officials, Dallas Fed chief Richard Fisher and Charles Plosser at the Philadelphia Fed, on Tuesday advocated pushing on with tapering.
The more dovish head of the Chicago Fed, Charles Evans, will take his turn to speak later on Wednesday.
A pullback in the yen was welcomed by the Japanese market, with the Nikkei bouncing 2.2% after suffering its sharpest daily drop in five months on Tuesday.
Progress elsewhere in Asia was patchy, with investors suffering whiplash after several days of wild swings. Singapore added 0.6% as did Taiwan, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eked out just 0.1%.
In commodity markets, a firmer dollar and rising equities shoved gold back to $1,237 an ounce, off a high of 1,255.00 hit Tuesday.
Oil prices were softer after a mixed performance overnight. US crude dipped 8 cents to $92.51 a barrel, while Brent eased 17 cents to $106.22.
