U.S. stocks opened mixed as investors balanced China's pledge to step up its participation in a euro-zone bailout of Greece against reports that euro-zone finance officials were seeking ways to delay at least part of the latest bailout.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 27 points, or 0.2%, to 12852 in early trade, after rising for five out of the past six days. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index edged up one point, or 0.1%, to 1351 and the Nasdaq Composite added nine points, or 0.3%, to 2941.
Leading the declines were industrials and utilities. Caterpillar lost 0.9%, Boeing fell 0.4% and 3M was off 0.6%. Limiting losses were technology and financial stocks. J.P. Morgan Chase rose 0.7% and Hewlett-Packard gained 1.3%
The gyrations came after a U.S. morning that saw European markets and U.S. stock futures rise after People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China's central bank will expand its investments of euro-denominated assets. Mr. Zhou also reiterated the view that the PBOC would become more involved with the European Financial Stability Facility.
But those gains evaporated after headlines suggesting euro-zone finance officials were looking to delay at least part of the latest Greek bailout, without triggering a default. The Stoxx Europe 600 saw an early 1% advance shrink to a 0.4% gain.
Separately, euro-zone gross domestic product contracted in the fourth quarter for the first time since the second quarter of 2009, but by a little less than expected. Meanwhile, France's economy expanded slightly, against expectations of a slight contraction, while Germany's economy contracted by a little less than forecast.
Asian bourses rallied on China's euro-zone plans. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 2.3% to a six-month high and China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.9% to a multi-month high.
Gold futures moved higher to above $1,735 an ounce, while crude-oil futures climbed above $101 a barrel. The U.S. dollar gained ground against the euro but slipped against the yen.
In U.S. economic headlines, New York manufacturing activity in February expanded for the third consecutive month. Business conditions index increased to 19.53 this month from 13.48 in January, better than expectations for a 15.0 reading, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Industrial production was unchanged last month, though December's output figures were revised up to a 1.0% gain, after an initial estimate of 0.4% growth. Capacity utilization slipped, easing to 78.5% from an upwardly revised 78.6% the previous month. Those numbers fell below expectations.
In addition, investors will get a measure of February homebuilder confidence at 10 a.m., and the minutes to the latest Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting at 2 p.m.
In corporate news, shares of Procter & Gamble gained 0.5% after the blue-chip consumer-goods company said it agreed to terminate the deal to sell its Pringles business to Diamond Foods, and instead will sell the business to Kellogg for $2.7 billion. Kellogg shares rose 4% while Diamond Foods' stock edged up 0.8%.
Comcast ran up 5.5% after the cable and television network operator reported fourth-quarter results that beat forecasts, increased its annual dividend by 44% to 65 cents a share, and authorized a new $6.5 billion stock buyback program, with $3 billion to be repurchased in 2012.
Deere fell 3.7% after the maker of farm tractors and combines topped fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates.
Elsewhere, Zynga slumped 9.6% after the social-games services company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, but indicated 2012 bookings growth would be slower than in 2011 and weighted toward the back-half of the year.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals surged 16% after the company announced positive results from a preclinical trial of its potential treatment of hepatitis C.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@dowjones.com
