New York/London: Global stocks were flat on Wednesday as reports that new stimulative measures would be announced by the European Central Bank, though a tepid outlook from IBM limited the day’s gains in the US.

European shares stalled near a seven-year high and Asian shares hit a six-week peak.

Market participants have been looking for more aggressive measures from central banks to combat the risk of deflation that has grown alongside a drop in oil prices. The ECB’s Executive Board has proposed a quantitative easing program that would see the ECB buy roughly 50 billion euros ($58 billion) in bonds per month for a minimum of a year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

“The timing and duration of bond purchases is just as important as the actual amount, if not more important,” said Clem Miller, portfolio manager of Wilmington International Funds in Baltimore.

“There are also a lot of questions about asset distribution, since the market is expecting a lot of government bond purchases, and it would be disappointed if it was more slanted to corporate bonds.” Tech shares fell 0.5 per cent as the weakest sector of the day. Late Tuesday, International Business Machines Corp reported lower-than-expected revenues and gave a 2015 profit target below estimates. Shares of the Dow component fell 1.9 per cent to $154.10 as one of the biggest decliners on the S & P500.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 equity index was down 0.3 per cent, at 1,418.46 points, while the MSCI World Index

was flat. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.4 per cent.

While IBM was the biggest drag on the Dow, losses in the blue-chip index were limited after UnitedHealth Group Inc’s fourth-quarter earnings topped expectations, sending shares up 2.7 per cent to $108.43.

Netflix Inc jumped 17 per cent to $407.33 a day after the streaming and rental video company said it was growing faster overseas than previously expected, offsetting slower US growth. Adjusted profit was much stronger than expected.

With 8 per cent of S & P500 companies reporting earnings, 75 per cent have topped expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. About 52 per cent beat on revenue.

Energy shares bucked a recent trend of weakness, rising 1.1 per cent alongside a jump of 2.4 per cent in crude oil

prices. Despite the commodity’s rise, it remains sharply lower for the week, near multi-year lows, after dropping nearly 5 per cent on Tuesday. Halliburton Co rose 1 per cent to $40.22 while Marathon Oil rose 1.4 per cent to $26.34.

Qualcomm Inc fell 2.5 per cent to $70.70 after Bloomberg reported Samsung Electronics Co Ltd would not use Qualcomm’s processors for the next flagship Galaxy S smartphone.

At 10:06am (1506 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 23.09 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 17,492.14, the S & P500 gained 3.02 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 2,025.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.01 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 4,659.86.

NYSE advancing issues outnumbered decliners 1,721 to 979, for a 1.76-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,167 issues rose and 1,013 fell, for a 1.15-to-1 ratio favouring advancers.

The S & P500 was posting 23 new 52-week highs and 7 lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 22 new highs and 31 lows.