Stock indexes edged higher in another bumpy trading day Wednesday as optimism grew about talks in Europe on containing that region's debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 34 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,141 shortly after noon. It had been up as many as 73 points and down as many as 112 points within an hour after the opening bell.

The leaders of Greece, France and Germany will confer by teleconference later Wednesday to seek ways of avoiding a default by Greece. European stock indexes rose as investors hoped the talks would be productive. Germany's DAX rose 3.4 percent and France's CAC-40 1.9 percent. The threat of a default and the damage it could wreak on financial markets has had investors on edge for weeks.

Concerns over Europe have been driving markets lower in the past two weeks, lifting Treasurys and weighing on stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit a record low on Monday of 1.87 percent and the S&P 500 has only risen three days this month.

Stocks rose in afternoon trading Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. is on track for long-term economic growth.

Bernanke left open the possibility of more action by the Fed if another recession looks likely. But he announced no new economic stimulus measures during his speech at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Indexes fell sharply as the speech was released and it became clear that Bernanke was not promising new stimulus measures. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 78 points shortly before the speech started and slumped as many as 220 points shortly after Bernanke started speaking. It recovered those losses within an hour. By late morning major market indexes were all trading higher.

Many traders were disappointed that the Fed chairman didn't offer steps to shore up the fragile economic recovery. Optimism had been building on Wall Street this week that Bernanke might announce some kind of action. Bernanke was speaking at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the same event where he announced plans for a bond-buying program a year ago.