European stock markets finished firmly higher on Tuesday as a round of upbeat earnings reports and a solid rebound in oil prices helped lift the region's benchmarks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished firmly above the key 18,000 mark Tuesday, but U.S. stocks closed off of their intra-day highs as a slump in shares of large-cap tech firms, led by International Business Machines Corp., canceled out positive sentiment from stable oil prices and a string of better-than-expected earnings.

Asian stocks mixed as markets focus on European Central Bank remarks. The European Central Bank's governing council is meeting, and investors are closely watching for what President Mario Draghi might say at the news conference later this week.

Based on MarketWatch materials