The major U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the start of Thursday's trading, following reports on jobless claims and the housing market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up slightly, while the S&P 500 Index gained one-tenth of a percent and the NASDAQ fell almost two-tenths of a percent.
European stock prices were lower in afternoon trading.
London's Financial Times index fell 1.3 percent. The CAC-40 in dropped 1 percent. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt slipped almost eight-tenths of a percent.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index plunged 1.7 percent to finish at 9,411. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost almost 1.8 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,953.
The price of gold fell less than $2 to trade at $1,529.07 an ounce.
The dollar is down against the yen but rose against the euro.