European stocks struggle
Shares in London, Paris dip as investors are unable to maintain early momentum. Asia closes higher.
(CNN) -- European markets opened higher Wednesday, feeding off a positive start to the day across Asia, but soon began to slip.
London was off 1% in early trading, while Paris fell 0.6%. Frankfurt was narrowly higher.
Asian and Pacific markets turned positive at midweek as bargain hunters snapped up low-priced stocks.
Tokyo's Nikkei average closed up 0.3%, following a plunge of nearly 5%on Tuesday, while the KOSPI in Seoul gained 1.3%. In Australia, the All Ordinaries index closed up 0.9%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng pushed 0.3% higher.
Mired in the global economic downturn, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva moved to spur the nation's economy Wednesday with a $3.3 billion stimulus plan that includes expanded public works projects, unemployment benefits and education packages. The package must still be approved by parliament.
Separately, the Bank of Thailand cut the country's key interest rate three-quarters of a percentage point to 2% in another effort to boost the economy.
Stocks were mixed on Wall Street Tuesday as questions about Citigroup's (C, Fortune 500) future and Alcoa's (AA, Fortune 500) big quarterly loss exacerbated worries about the weak corporate profit environment.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 25 points, or 0.3%, to settle at 8,448. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.5%.
U.S. stocks had swayed on both sides of unchanged through the early afternoon, with weakness in banks, industrial stocks and Alcoa tempering any strength in technology.
The onslaught of negative news in the new year has caused investors to step back after a year-end rally, said Gary Webb, chief executive at Webb Financial Group.
"There's just nothing out there right now that looks promising, between the corporate news and the economic news," Webb said.
"Everyone knows things are going to be bad for a while, because we've all been told that so many times," he said. "But it still doesn't seem to be fully priced into the market."
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday on reports that Citigroup will sell off more than half of its brokerage business to Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500). Jitters about the fourth-quarter results also played a role in the selling activity Monday.
Those factors remained in play Tuesday, but Citigroup shares got a reprieve after several down sessions, after the company confirmed that it is talking with Morgan Stanley.
After hitting the most recent bear-market lows in late November, stocks rallied more than 20% through the first session of the year. But since then, stocks have been slipping again.
-- CNN's Dan Rivers contributed to this story. 
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