The major U.S. stock market indexes pushed higher at the start of Friday's trading.

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

European stock prices also gained in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index was up one-third of a percent. The CAC-40 in Paris jumped almost 1.3 percent. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt rose 1.4 percent.

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 fell more than $1 to trade at $1,528.36 an ounce.

The dollar lost value against the yen and the euro.