Adam Shell, and Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

Financial markets on Tuesday flashed their first signs of stabilization as the Dow shot up more than 200 points after the worst-ever two-day paper loss for the world's stock markets in the wake of the United Kingdom's vote to exit the European Union.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 269 points, or 1.6%. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was up 1.8% and the Nasdaq composite surged 2.1%. The bullishness in the U.S. stock market followed a rebound in European stock markets Tuesday after big losses Friday and Monday,

In London, the FTSE 100 index was up 2.6%, erasing more than half of its two-day losses. The broad Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 2.6%, but that does little to soothe the pain of a drop of more than 11% Friday and Monday.

And in a sign of some of the fear fading, the British pound was up 0.8%, although it is still hovering near a 31-year low. The U.S. dollar was down 0.3%, which will boost U.S. multinationals, and the price of oil.

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Crude prices were on the rise around the globe as investors reacted to the possibility of a strike by a union representing Norway's oil and gas employees. The union is threatening to walk off the job Saturday, which would limit oil production at one of Europe's major oil producers.

U.S.-produced crude was up $1.52, or 3.3%, to $47.85 per barrel, which is providing a lift to stocks in the energy sector. The S&P energy sector was up 2.5%, the best daily performance of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors. Brent crude was up $1.26 per barrel to $49.03.

Still, today's rebound is being framed by Wall Street as a "modest" relief rally after a two-day equity selloff that wiped out $3.01 trillion in stock market value -- the worst two-day paper loss in history, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"Global markets are extremely oversold and that's helping fuel what for now is best classified as a modest relief rally," Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, told USA TODAY via e-mail.

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Whether the early stock rebound holds is another question, however, as uncertainty surrounding how the so-called "Brexit" vote, or Britain's vote to leave the E.U., is still quite high.

"Whether this can turn into something more sustainable is an open question," Hickey wrote.

It is not uncommon for battered stock markets to mount some form of relief rally after a massive downdraft, market pros say.

Still, the "market often needs time to stabilize" after sharp declines, adds Jason Trennert of Wall Street firm Strategas Research Partners.

U.S. investors were also reacting to economic news that came in better than expected. The third revision of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter of 2016 came in at 1.1%, better than the second revision of +0.8%. And consumer confidence in June rose to its highest level since October, according to The Conference Board.

The healthy U.S. data was viewed as a positive by economists, as it offsets some of the Brexit-related gloom.

The data is "showing the U.S. is in a good place to weather the latest storm from Europe," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, said via e-mail.

UK PM David Cameron to meet EU leaders in Brussels

Markets are likely to be volatile for weeks until the nature of Britain's deal outside the bloc becomes clearer.

Investors will be closely watching a E.U. summit in Brussels today, where leaders will discuss the "consequences" of the U.K. referendum "leave" vote, as well as map out what's next and to reassure markets, according to Barclays.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told a special session of parliament Tuesday that all informal exit talks with Britain are banned until the nation triggers Article 50, the specific legislation that kick starts that process. Britain has signaled that it might not trigger Article 50 for several months.

The decision to leave the EU prompted ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch on Monday to strip the U.K. of its top-shelf credit rating. Some economists are warning the country may fall back into recession and costs hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Asian markets were mixed as Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.1% to 15,323.14 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.3% to 20,172.46.