Stocks in the United States have fallen after three consecutive winning sessions, as concerns mount about economic slowdowns in Europe and the United States.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have proposed a number of measures to give the eurozone bloc a ''true economic government'', in a bid to restore market confidence.
But the Dow Jones Index was down 76 points, or 0.6% on Tuesday, at 11,405.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 31 points, or 1.2%, at 2523.
The FTSE 100 in London was up 0.13%, but the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.45% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.25%.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index closed down 35 points, or 0.8%, at 4247 on Tuesday.
The NZX 50 closed up 21 points, or 0.6%, at 3273.
At 8.20am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 83.65 US cents, 79.91 Australian cents, 50.87 pence, 64.26 yen and 0.5809 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 71.75.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US110.47 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1780.39 per ounce.