The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.36 points (0.02 per cent) to end at 8,764.49 after recovering from an early triple digit loss.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq fell 7.02 points (0.38 per cent) to 1,842.40 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.95 points (0.10 per cent) to 939.14.

'The Street displayed its notorious resilience in the final hour of trading, with the major market indices paring the majority of their losses by the closing bell,' said Andrea Kramer of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Investors opened the week on a cautious note as prices of crude oil and other commodities fell from their recent peak levels reached on the back of high expectations of a global economic recovery.

'Increasing fears that the optimism for the recovery in the global economy may have overshot the economic reality are ... weighing sentiment to start the week,' analysts at Charles Schwab & Co told clients in a note.

Those at Briefing.com said the failure to move higher on relatively encouraging economic data had led some to question whether positive economic news were already being priced into stocks.

'Amid such concern, participants are making a concerted, broad-based push against stocks,' they said.

Economic recovery hopes had resulted in a 41 per cent gain for the S&P 500 index since March lows. -- AFP