World stocks mixed as China stimulus hopes fade

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan, announced in November, would help the country achieve 8 percent growth this year. That rate is seen as critical to creating jobs and staving off social unrest as the worst global economic crisis in generations hits Chinese exports.

As the government boosts money for infrastructure, social programs and tax cuts, the country's budget deficit will surge to its highest level in six decades, Wen said at China's annual legislative session in Beijing.

Global markets had rallied along with commodities prices the day before, partly on hopes China would announce new steps to counter a slowdown in its economy and help other countries restart theirs in the process.

But some investors turned cautious after Beijing largely reinforced programs and spending already known.

The program outlined in Wen's nationally televised speech, while supplying a short-term jolt to confidence with its reiteration of the 8 percent growth target, was unlikely to bring about a lasting recovery in global markets, analysts said. With Western economies and the global financial system still in tatters, any spillover effects from China would be limited.