By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets bounced higher in early trading Wednesday, shrugging off a downgrade of Italy by Moody's Investors Service, with bank stocks climbing sharply following a late rally on Wall Street. Among the biggest gainers, shares in BNP Paribas FR:BNP +7.05% rose 6.3% in Paris and Deutsche Bank DE:DBK +3.69% added 5.5% in Frankfurt. The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +1.37% rose 2% to 221.82 in early trading. The U.K. FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +1.33% rose 2.2% to 5,053.38, the French CAC 40 FR:PX1 +2.14% added 2.5% to 2,921.01 and the German DAX 30 DX:DAX +1.74% gained 2.1% to 5,324.60.
