U.S. stock indices declined on Thursday ahead of Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech. Stocks managed to rebound partly from their declines, but general lack of confidence prevented investors from buying crashed stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78.57 points, or 0.5%, to 16201.32. The S&P 500 declined 6.52, or 0.3%, to 1932.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 18.27, or 0.4%, to 4734.48.

Caterpillar shares (a Dow component) fell $4.40, or 6.3%, to $65.80 after the company said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2018.

This morning in Asia Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.47%, or 98.77 points, to 20,997.21. China Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.76%, or 55.36 point, to 3,087.32. The Nikkei gained 0.82%, or 143.33, to 17,715.16.

Asian stocks outside Japan fell amid declines in U.S. equities and uncertainty over prospects of Federal Reserve's rates. Yellen said on Thursday that a rate hike by the end of 2015 is likely, although low inflation justifies low rates for now.

Japanese stocks rose after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he discussed domestic and global economy with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.