After investors pushed stocks to new highs, there remained nagging doubts about the rally's sustainability, said Anais Faraj, strategist at Nomura.
"We remain positive, though acknowledge the rough terrain," Faraj added.
JP Morgan investment bank said global growth was supporting European equities and, at this point in the economic cycle, equities usually outperform bonds as earnings grow while bond yields see little lift, thus reducing pressure on a stock's valuation multiple.
In New York, as bourses shut the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 9,846 points, while the NASDAQ Composite had shed 0.6 percent to 1,956 points.
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