U.S. stock market indexes fell in Friday's midday trading after some disappointing reports on the U.S. labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were off by six-tenths of one percent while the NASDAQ slid seven-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were up at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index gained one-tenth of a percent to end at 5,855. The CAC-40 in Paris edged up less than one-tenth of a percent to finish at 3,891 while the DAX in Frankfurt moved up half a percent to hit 7,109.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost two-thirds of a percent , to close at 9,492. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.3 percent , to end at 22,950.

The price of gold rose more than $7 to trade at $1,541.04 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.