The major U.S. stock market indexes posted gains in Friday's midday trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose six-tenths of one percent, while the S&P 500 rose almost six-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ gained almost three-tenths of a percent.

European stock prices closed higher.

London's Financial Times index gained three-tenths of a percent to finish at 5,715. The CAC-40 in Paris jumped eight-tenths of a percent to end at 3,824. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt rose three-quarters of a percent to close at 7,164.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped about six-tenths of a percent to finish at 9,351. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped almost 1.2 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,695.

The price of gold gained more than $9 to trade at $1,538.71 an ounce.

The dollar lost value against the yen and the euro.