NEW YORK (AP) — The "fiscal cliff" compromise, for all its chaos, controversy and unresolved questions, was enough to send the stock market shooting higher Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year.

All the major U.S. stock indexes swelled by at least 2 percent in early trading before trimming some of those gains. The Dow Jones industrial average briefly surged to its biggest gain in six months.

Stocks around the world also leapt higher. The major indexes in Britain, France and Germany rose more than 2 percent. Markets in Greece and Spain were up more than 3 percent. Stocks in Asia also zoomed higher.