NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes turned up Tuesday morning after the Federal Reserve said it would begin to purchase asset-backed and unsecured short-term debt.

Markets were buoyed by the move, which would puts movement back in a frozen commercial paper market worth about $1.6 trillion.

In early Tuesday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 53.28 points, or 0.54 percent, to 10,008.78. The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 0.47 percent, 5 points, to 1,061.89. The Nasdaq composite index gained 1.77 points, 0.1 percent, to 1,864.73, up 0.1 percent.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 20/32 to yield 3.532 percent.

The dollar was mixed. The euro rose to $1.3686, compared to $1.3519 Monday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose to 102.42 yen, up from 101.61 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average lost 317.19 points to 10,155.90, off 3.03 percent.

LUXEMBOURG CITY, Luxembourg, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- European leaders met in Luxembourg Tuesday to discuss a coordinated strategy to combat the continent's banking and financial ills.

The need for a coordinated approach was highlighted by Ireland's move to insure deposits at six domestic banks, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The move sparked similar responses in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Greece and Austria.

The Netherlands has asked that each country's solutions to the banking crisis not provoke cross-border competition, the Times reported.

One country on its own can't solve the problem, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said.

But the lack of a unified approach led some to believe the European Central Bank would have to cut interest rates in hopes increased liquidity would restore calm to Europe's banks.

We've seen both at the national level and more importantly at the international level, that there's no strategy, said Richard Portes of the Center for Economic Policy Research in London.

It reflects the underlying fact that individual governments don't have a clear sense of where to go, he said.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Two companies pursuing North Carolina's struggling Wachovia Corp. agreed to try to settle the deal out of court, the companies said.

A flurry of lawsuits arose after Wachovia tried to back out of Citigroup's $2 billion offer to buy most of the company. Wachovia's motivation was simple: Four days after signing an agreement to discuss a deal with Citigroup, Wells Fargo offered to buy Wachovia intact for $15 billion, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Wachovia, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all said they supported the out of court negotiations, which would likely result in portions of Wachovia going to each suitor, the Post reported.

We are pleased to participate with the Federal Reserve Board in a fair-minded, good-faith process to achieve a prompt and successful outcome, a Citigroup spokeswoman said.

The Fed is pushing for a quick settlement during a market environment fraught with financial brush fires.

The original Citigroup deal included a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreement to accept all of Wachovia's losses beyond $42 billion.

The Wells Fargo deal was also costly to the government, as Wells Fargo would have parlayed Wachovia's losses into a $21 billion tax break, the Post reported.

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A 39-year-old appliance and property magnate estimated to be worth $6.3 billion was ranked the richest this year among China's top 1,000 wealthy people.

Gome appliance chain owner Huang Guangyu, ranked fourth last year, displaced real estate developer Yang Huiyan, 27, whose wealth is estimated at $4.9 billion, on a list compiled by analyst Rupert Hoogewerf, China Daily reported Tuesday.

The report said China's billionaires have seen fortunes decline sharply because of the continuing severe downturns in global stock and property markets. Yang's assets last year were estimated to be worth $19 billion.

The second wealthiest in the country this year is Du Shuanghua, a 43-year-old steel tycoon estimated to be worth $5.1 billion, the report said. He was not in the top 10 last year.

The others on the top 10 this year hadn't been announced.

The report said the top three on the list together had wealth estimated at $35 billion last year, compared to $16.3 billion this year.