The major U.S. stock market indexes slipped lower in Tuesday's early trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell two-tenths of a percent. The S&P 500 index slid three-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ was down less than one-tenth of a percent.

European stock prices were mixed in midday trading Tuesday. London's Financial Times index rose one-tenth of a percent. The CAC-40 in Paris slid four-tenths of a percent. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt gained more than one-tenth of a percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained a fraction of one percent to finish at 9,972. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost one-tenth of one percent to finish the day's trading at 22,748.

The price of gold gained almost $13 to trade at $1,508.95 an ounce.

The dollar traded higher against the yen and the euro.