U.S. stock market indexes declined in Thursday's midday trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost four-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 moved down three-tenths, while the NASDAQ slid one-tenth of a percent.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost 1.4 percent to end at 5,848. The CAC 40 in Paris moved down 1.9 percent to finish at 3,890, and the DAX in Frankfurt slid 2 percent to close at 7,074.

Earlier Thursday in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped 1.7 percent to finish at 9,555. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.6 percent to end the day's trading at 23,254.

The price of gold fell more than $11 to trade at $1,528.25 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.