US stocks were little changed early on Thursday with light trading after a rally in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index.
The index rose 0.1% to 13175.64 points, but would still need a 7% rise to return to a record high of 14,164.53 reached on October 9, 2007, before the global financial crisis.
Fashion house Ralph Lauren and travel websites Priceline and Orbitz all forecast slowing demand due to the global slowdown.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 4 points to 3011 points, and the FTSE 100 index in London gained 5 points to close at 5845 points.
On Wednesday, the Australian 200 Index gained 21 points, to close at 4312 points, while the NZX 50 index fell 3 points, or 0.1%, to close at 3582.
In the currency markets, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 81.49 US cents, 77.10 Australian cents, 52.08 pence, 63.95 yen and 0.6592 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 73.19.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US114.40 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1613.30 per ounce.
