U.S. stock market indexes were sharply lower in Monday's trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.2 percent (151 points)) to close at 12,506. The S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent to finish at 1,319 and the NASDAQ composite index lost two percent to hit 2,803.

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 index in Paris moved down 2.7 percent to finish at 3,808, and the DAX index in Frankfurt slid 2.3 percent to 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 nearly $11 to trade at $1,555.03 an ounce.

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