Stocks on Wall St have fallen following mixed corporate earnings and weak business activity and consumer confidence.
The Dow Jones Index on Tuesday was down 26 points to 12,628. The Nasdaq Composite was up 3 points at 2815.
In Europe: the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.3%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.3% and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.8%
The Nikkei in Tokyo rose 9 points to 8803. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was unchanged at 20,110.
The Australian market was down 10 points to 4263 and the NZX 50 fell 11 points to 3296.
At 8.25am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 82.58 US cents, 77.80 Australian cents, 52.38 pence, 62.93 yen and 0.6311 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.68.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US111.11 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1732.31 per ounce.
