By Christopher Whittall and Riva Gold 

Global stocks rose Wednesday as investors shrugged off concerns over geopolitical tensions and focused on the prospect of further monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank.

The euro fell against the dollar and the Stoxx Europe 600 gained 1.5%, retracing losses on Tuesday that followed reports that the Turkish military shot down a Russian jet fighter along the Syrian border.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a 0.3% opening gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Changes in stock futures aren't necessarily reflected in market moves after the opening bell.

Asian markets slipped slightly as investors in the region reacted to news of the downed jet.

Investors are looking past geopolitical tensions to focus on the prospect of further monetary stimulus--also known as quantitative easing, or QE--at the European Central Bank's meeting next week and whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December, said Mike Bell, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

"There is a strong likelihood the ECB is going to expand the QE package" and cut interest rates further, said Mr. Bell, adding this should boost European stocks heading into year-end.

Investors were also taking cheer from signs the Federal Reserve believes the U.S. economy will be strong enough to withstand the first rate rise in almost a decade, said Mr. Bell, whose firm oversees $1.7 trillion in assets.

Several U.S. economic reports were released Wednesday, the last day of trading before the Thanksgiving holiday. Initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 260,000 in the week ended Nov. 21.

Other data showed that U.S. personal spending, which measures how much Americans paid for everything from toasters to health care, increased 0.1% in October from a month earlier.

Separately, new orders for durable goods rose a seasonally adjusted 3% in October from a month earlier. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected overall orders to increase by 1.8% in October.

The euro fell to a seven-month low against the dollar Wednesday on renewed expectations that QE could be more expansive. The euro was last at $1.0581, down 0.7% on the day. Easy-money policies tend to reduce the attractiveness of a currency to investors and boost government bonds prices.

The yield on two-year German government bonds fell to a fresh low of minus 0.41% in a sign that investors are ramping up bets the ECB will cut the interest rate it pays on bank deposits from the current level of minus 0.2%. Yields fall as prices rise.

Gains in Europe were led by shares in travel and leisure companies, which rose 1.9%. These stocks remain down 1.3% this week following a sharp fall on Tuesday.

The drop in European stocks on Tuesday "was probably driven by short-term considerations," said Christoph Hilfiker, a fund manager at LLB Asset Management, which holds 10 billion Swiss francs ($9.8 billion) in assets under management.

Mr. Hilfiker said he is focused on company valuations and sees some opportunity in European stocks and sectors like technology in the U.S.

"When there is fear, there is a good entry point," he said.

Elsewhere, shares in Spanish banks were hit after Spanish engineering firm Abengoa SA said it is filing for preliminary credit protection. Shares in Banco Popular Español SA fell 4.3%, Banco Santander SA slipped 3.1%, Caixa Bank SA dropped 2.5% and Banco de Sabadell SA fell 3.8%.

The losses dragged down Spain's IBEX 35 index 0.5%.

Shares in basic resources companies, which have been volatile of late, were down 0.9%, taking losses to nearly 11% so far this month. Shares in Anglo American PLC fell around 7% after HSBC analysts published a note warning of persistent "cash burn" at the mining giant.

In Portugal, the yield on 10-year government bonds yields fell around 0.12 percentage points following the appointment of a new prime minister on Tuesday that ended weeks of political uncertainty.

In Asia, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.5% lower, but the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9%.

Tuesday's gains in oil prices kept a lid on losses, supporting energy companies in Asia and sending Wall Street to a slightly higher close.

Brent crude oil was last down 1.3% at $45.49 a barrel, but remains up almost 3% so far this week.

In commodities, gold was down 0.2% at $1,071.80 a troy ounce.

Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com and Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2015 08:55 ET (13:55 GMT)