Stocks rose in late trading on Wall Street as investors took hope in figures showing the US economy shrank by less than expected.
Official figures showed seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 570,000 in the week ending 22 August.
Boeing also announced it expects the first flight of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner by the end of 2009.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 37 points, or 0.4%, to 9580.
The Nasdaq Composite closed up 3 points, or 0.2%, to 2027.
Europe's main stock markets slipped for the second consecutive day: London's FTSE 100 index lost 0.4%, Frankfurt's DAX fell 0.9% and the CAC-40 in Paris lost 0.5%.
Earlier in Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 index fell 1.5%, a day after finishing at the best level since early October.
The Australian 200 Index closed down 3 points, less than 1%, to 4450.
The NZX50 closed down 14 points, 0.5%, at 3076 on turnover of $82 million.
At 8.25am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 68.82 US cents, 81.95 Australian cents, 42.26 pence, 64.35 yen and 0.4792 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 63.78.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US70 per barrel. Gold was trading at $US946 per ounce.
