United States equities rose, halting a three-day drop, following better-than-forecast economic reports and acquisitions in the media and grocery industries.
Bloomberg reports that a benchmark gauge of global stocks reached the lowest since April and the yen rose as the World Bank cut its growth forecast.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added one per cent to 1,627.92 in New York after losing 1.9 per cent in the previous three sessions, its worst drop in almost two months.
The MSCI All-Country World Index was unchanged, erasing an earlier 0.9 per cent retreat as benchmark indexes in Japan and Hong Kong entered bear markets.
The yen rose to a two-month high against the dollar. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped five basis points to 2.18 per cent and the S&P GSCI index of commodities gained 0.4 per cent, erasing a 0.9 per cent drop.
US shares defied a global slide following data showing faster-than-forecast growth in retail sales and a drop in jobless claims.
The global economy will expand 2.2 per cent in 2013, the World Bank said that paring a January forecast of 2.4 per cent. The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week after the Bank of Japan this week left its lending program unchanged.
Global stocks have plunged by more than five per cent from a May 21 peak this year on speculation the Fed may ease stimulus.
"The economy around the globe is slowing down so US investors are certainly watching the data and hopefully see signs that the US is not joining their friends in Europe and emerging markets," Wayne Wilbanks, chief investment officer at Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees $2.5bn, said in a telephone interview.
"We got headwinds coming. Just the mention of Fed tapering has caused all sorts of problems in the bond markets and beginning to cause some problems in the equity markets because people realised if it were not for the government, we'd have 5.5 per cent 10-year yield."
