U.S. stock market indexes declined in Wednesday's trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped seven-tenths of a percent to end at 12,110. The S&P 500 fell seven-tenths of a percent to finish at 1,287, and the NASDAQ composite index dropped seven-tenths of a percent to close at 2,669.

European stock markets were down at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost less than one-tenth of a percent to finish at 5,773. The CAC 40 in Paris retreated two-tenths of a percent to end at 3,871, and the DAX in Frankfurt fell one-tenth of a percent to 7,278.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.8 percent to finish at 9,629. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained less than one-tenth of one percent to finish the day's trading at 21,860.

The price of gold rose more than $3 to trade at $1,549.53 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.