U.S. stocks were lower at closing Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.4 percent , falling below 12,000 to 11,952.

The S&P 500 also fell 1.4 percent to 1,271. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.5 percent to 2,644.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index was down more than 1.5 percent to end at 5,766. The CAC 40 index in Paris lost 1.9 percent to finish at 3,805, and the DAX index in Frankfurt slid 1.25 percent to 7,070.

Earlier Friday in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained half a percent , to close at 9,514. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped eight-tenths of one percent , to end at 22,420.

The price of gold dropped $13.50 to $1,528.60 per ounce.

The U.S. dollar was higher against the euro and the yen.