Wall Street ends flat as European shares drop

US stocks ended flat to slightly lower on Tuesday after bellwether FedEx cut its profit forecast and investors pulled back after last week's rally on central bank stimulus.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 11.54 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 13,564.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 1.87 points, or 0.13 percent, to finish at 1,459.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 0.87 of a point, or 0.03 percent, to end at 3,177.80.

European shares fell as Spain's reluctance to seek a sovereign bailout kept the country's implied borrowing costs high and prompted investors to continue booking profits on a stellar two-month run for euro zone banks.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 provisionally closed 0.4 percent lower at 1,111.74, further retreating from 14-month highs hit on Friday.

The Nikkei average fell today as companies heavily exposed to China were caught up in tensions between China and Japan over a territorial dispute that disrupted business and production, and left investors pondering unsettled scenarios.

Should the anti-Japanese protests in China worsen or the dispute over the islands escalate, China-related companies would likely see further sell-offs as their earnings from the world's second-largest economy could come under pressure.

The Nikkei share average ended 0.4 percent to 9,123.77 after rallying 1.8 percent after the US Federal Reserve launched its QE3 round of stimulus.

Monday was a public holiday in Japan.The broader Topix index added 0.2 percent to 758.36, with nearly 1.8 billion shares changing hands, down from a six-month high of 2.5 billion reached on Friday but up from last week's average of 1.62 billion.