U.S. stock market indexes fell in Wednesday's trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated two-tenths of a percent to close at 12,049. The S&P 500 lost four-tenths of a percent to end at 1,280 while the NASDAQ composite index dropped one percent to 2,675.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost one percent to close at 5,809. The CAC-40 index in Paris moved down nine-tenths of a percent to finish at 3,838, while the DAX index in Frankfurt fell six-tenths of a percent to 7,060.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained one-tenth of a percent to finish at 9,449. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost nearly one percent to finish the day's trading at 22,662.

The price of gold fell more than $6 to trade at $1,537.80 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen but gained value compared to the euro.