Major U.S. stock market indexes slid lower in early trading Wednesday, following reports the job market created fewer jobs last month than many economists had forecast.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index each fell three-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ dropped almost two-tenths of a percent.

European stock prices were lower in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index slid three-tenths of a percent. The CAC-40 in Paris fell two-tenths of a percent. Trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt was down about one-quarter of a percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained more than one-quarter of a percent to finish at 9,720. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost nearly one-quarter of a percent to finish the day's trading at 23,626.

The price of gold rose slightly to trade at $1,536.13 an ounce.

The dollar traded lower against the yen and the euro.