Stock markets reclaimed some ground but the euro fell slightly on Thursday on speculation Spain could move toward a debt rescue and the European Central Bank would launch a new bond-buying plan.
Talk that the China Securities Regulatory Commission would announce steps to support beleaguered domestic markets was also positive for relatively risky investments.
A report showing U.S. durable goods orders falling by a larger than expected amount in August and another estimating second-quarter gross domestic product below expectations curtailed gains, though a fall in initial jobless claims in the latest week was taken as encouraging.
But euro zone worries have roared back into focus over the last week as the feel-good factor of recent central bank stimulus has given way to renewed uncertainty over Spain's willingness to submit to a politically painful rescue program.
The Spanish government will hold a news conference on the 2013 budget and on economic reforms at 1500 GMT on Thursday, the prime minister's office said.
The MSCI world equity index was up 0.4% to 331.91.
"I think ... a few opportunistic buyers have been creeping in, on the hope that Spain might just push the bailout button," said Angus Campbell, head of market analysis at Capital Spreads in London. "If that happens, I can only imagine you'll see risk assets rise."
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 18.32 points, or 0.14%, at 13,431.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.32 points, or 0.23%, at 1,436.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.37 points, or 0.21%, at 3,100.08.
Separately, the Labor Department said the U.S. economy likely created 386,000 more jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated, in a preliminary estimate of its annual "benchmark" revision to closely watched payrolls data.
Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes slipped in August due to a shortage of lower priced inventory in most of the country, an industry report revealed on Thursday.
"You put it all together, a lot of this is backward-looking data, some of this is more forward-looking, said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. "It's certainly a negative but not a disaster at all and the stock market is not reacting significantly here to this news."
In China, stocks rebounded from multiyear lows on speculation a China Securities Regulatory Commission announcement could include changes to the initial public offering market. Traders said China's central bank fed $57.9 billion into money markets this week, the largest weekly injection in history.
The euro was last down 0.1% at $1.2854.