A late burst of buying lifted the main Wall Street indices to close little changed after spending most of the day in negative territory following poor earnings reports from blue chips 3M and Johnson & Johnson
An analyst suggested the market was overbought but selling had been ineffective, while the market had also been lifted by hitting technical support levels.
Asian stocks listed on Wall Street finished 0.04 percent lower.
British shares fell 0.4 percent after a surprise contraction in the British economy in the fourth quarter, with the negative sentiment spilling over into European shares, which slipped 0.6 percent.
The euro continued its bullish run against the U S dollar in volatile trading, with momentum seen behind the single currency, while the yen ticked lower against the greenback.
Japanese markets are seen opening a shade weaker, with Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 25 points below the last closing level in Osaka.