U.S. stock market indexes were lower in Monday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.3 percent, the S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent and the NASDAQ lost two percent.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index dropped one percent to end at 5,929. The CAC-40 in Paris moved down 2.7 percent to finish at 3,808, and the DAX in Frankfurt slid 2.3 percent to hit 7,230.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped seven-tenths of a percent to close at 10,070. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.7 percent to finish at 22,347.

The price of gold rose more than $4 to trade at $1,548.63 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen but rose compared to the euro.