Major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday.
It ended the day just 1 percent above its lowest close since April 2003. Energy stocks were a major drag on the index, though crude prices rose to more than $42 a barrel. They have still fallen more than 70 percent below their peak - more than $147 reached in the summer of 2008 - on worries of slowing demand in the face of world-wide economic turmoil.