World stocks slide, Wall St bounces

Stocks on Wall Street rebounded mid-session to finish higher as further signs of a US recovery outweighed events in Europe.

Italian bond yields were back at the 7% mark, renewing worries about the country's ability to borrow in the public markets.

Fears the euro-zone sovereign debt will worsen have come from Germany, where an economic survey showed expectations fell below forecasts to the lowest level since October 2008.

Meanwhile, US economy is showing more upbeat signs. Retail sales rose by more than economists predicted, while wholesale prices in October dropped at the fastest monthly pace since February 2010

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.41 points, or 0.1%, to 12,096.39 at the close (10am NZ time). In the morning session, it fell as much as 76 points.

Wal-Mart Stores led early falls in the Dow with a 2.2% drop after reporting third-quarter earnings that fell a shy of estimates. Hewlett-Packard and Intel led the blue chips higher, rising 3.6% and 3.2%, respectively.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.5% to 1257.79 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% to 2686.20.

Other markets: Europe, Asia down
European sharemarkets were mostly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended 0.6% lower at 237.03, off its session low of 234.18.

The UK's FTSE 100 index finished nearly flat at 5517.44, while France's CAC-40 index closed 1.9% lower at 3049.13 and Germany's DAX index closed down 0.9% at 5933.14.

Italy's FTSE MIB finished down 1.1% at 15,297.60, off its session low off 14998.06

Asian markets were also mostly lower amid renewed fears about Europe.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX fell 0.4% and Korea's Kospi lost 0.9%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.8%, while China's Shanghai Composite was flat. India's Sensex fell 1.4%.

Commodities: Oil, gold up
Oil futures fluctuated as traders weighed positive US economic signals against the eurozone troubles.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 72USc, or 0.7%, to $US98.86 a barrel in New York after being lower earlier in the session.

Brent crude added 16USc, or 0.1%, to $US112.08 a barrel on the ICE.

Gold futures held near steady. The contract for November delivery was up $US5.30, or 0.3%, at $US1783.10 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro falls
The euro fell as low as $US1.3498 before recovering to $US1.3521 compared with $US1.3634 late on Monday.

Trading was influenced by the European bond market where Italian, Spanish, French and Belgian debt all hit records.

The US dollar was at ¥77.02 compared with ¥77.07, while the euro was at ¥104.13 compared with ¥105.07.

The UK pound bought $US1.5815 from $US1.5910, while the dollar fetched 0.9182 Swiss franc from 0.9084 franc.