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Stock markets in Asia and Europe turned higher Tuesday, perhaps providing some breathing room for U.S. stocks as the year's second half gets under way.

In China, the Shanghai composite index, one of the worst performers for the year so far, added 1.92 percent to 2,409.42, while the Nikkei 225 in Japan added 71.26 points to 9,338.04, up 0.77 percent.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 1.22 percent, adding 241.92 points to 20,084.12. In India, the Sensex gained 0.99 percent, 173.04, to 17,614.48.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.28 percent, 53.98, to 4,276.09. In Taiwan, stocks rose 1.46 percent on the TAIEX index, adding 108.52, to 7,548.48.

In midday trading in Europe, stocks climbed 2 percent or higher in Sweden, Italy, and Belgium. Stocks rose 2.23 percent on the FTSE 100 index in Britain, 2.13 percent on the DAX 30 index in Germany and 3.06 on the CAC 40 in France. The pan-European DJ Stoxx 50 gained 2.4 percent with afternoon trading still ahead.

U.S. investors will start the post-holiday week looking at the Institute of Supply Management's non-manufacturing business survey, expecting positive numbers to show continued slow growth in the sector. The eurozone's statistical office Eurostat releases gross domestic product figures Tuesday, concurrent with figures on Germany's factory orders report for May.

On Thursday, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank announce interest rate decisions, widely expected to be unchanged with the BOE holding onto its 0.5 percent rate for overnight bank loans and the ECB maintaining 1 percent for another month.

On Friday, Britain announces monthly trade balance figures and the producer price index. The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday issues a monthly wholesale inventory report. As always, the weekly initial claims report from the U.S. Department of Labor (on Thursday) gives a critical peek hiring trends, which looked lackluster in June.

In Washington, some guesswork is under way on the issue of who will be chosen as the inaugural director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- under the assumption the Senate will approve the financial reform package on its return from the Fourth of July holiday.

"Whoever is in command will determine the agency's path. When you have a lot of power vested in an agency, everything depends on how effectively they carry out their rulemaking authority," said Kathleen Engel, a law professor who serves on the Federal Reserve's Consumer Advisory Council, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Among the leading candidates for the job is Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who presides over the Congressional Oversight Panel, which monitors the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that gets phased out with the new law.

Warren has said, to paraphrase, there is an agency to protect consumers who might get their fingers burned if they buy a faulty waffle iron, but no agency overseeing their financial safety. Their house could burn down due to a short in a dishwasher and they would be protected. But if it were to fall into foreclosure due to some ambiguous fine print in a contract, there is no agency handing out paddles for that.

Other possible would-be directors include Treasury Department Assistant Secretary Michael Barr, and Democratic attorneys general from Massachusetts, Illinois and Minnesota -- Martha Coakley, Lisa Madigan and Lori Swanson, respectively. Also on the list is Nicolas Retsinas, a former bank regulator who heads Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.