Wall Street closed back in the red on Wednesday, after a late reversal.
Markets around the world rebounded after sharp falls earlier this week, with Asia leading the recovery.
Wall Street spent most of the session in positive territory, but fell in the last hour to close down 69 points, or 0.7%, at 9974.
The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 15 points, or 0.7%, to finish at 2195.
A fall in the euro against the dollar was one trigger for the fall. The BBC reports it was sparked by a report in the Financial Times newspaper saying China was reviewing its holdings of euro-denominated debt.
It said China was worried about the risk posed to euro-based investments by the weaker countries in the 16-member bloc.
The euro was trading at $US1.218, a fall of 2 cents on the day.
Although most of China's holdings are are in US dollars, the BBC reports a significant proportion - estimated at $US630 billion - are thought to be held in euros.
The Financial Times said representatives from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange - which manages the reserves for the central bank - have held recent meetings with foreign bankers in Beijing to discuss the issue.
Other markets up
Earlier, the FTSE 100 in London finished up 1.97%, the DAX in Frankfurt ended 1.55% higher, while the CAC-40 in Paris ended with a rise of 3.22%.
Asian markets also closed higher. The Nikkei index in Japan rose 0.7%, and the Kospi index In South Korea added 1.4%.
Markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Indonesia and Taiwan also closed higher.
The Australian 200 Index closed up 41 points, or 0.98%, at 4307.
The NZX 50 closed 7 points higher, or 0.25%, to 3011 on turnover of $52 million.
At 8.25am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 66.32 US cents, 81.60 Australian cents, 46.11 pence, 59.62 yen and 0.5443 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 64.83.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US70.34 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1212.60 per ounce.
