U.S. stock indexes gained slightly in early trading Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up one-quarter of one percent, while the S&P 500 gained two-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ was up three-tenths of a percent.

European stocks are mixed in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index is up eight-tenths of one percent. The CAC-40 in Paris is down half a percent, while the DAX index in Frankfurt is off one-quarter of one percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.2 percent to finish at 9,061.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index earned one-quarter of one percent to finish the day's trading at 20,585.

Gold is up a dollar at $1,826.55 an ounce.

The dollar is trading higher against both the yen and euro.