The major U.S. stock market indexes dipped in midday trading Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost one-tenth of a percent. The S&P 500 index lost less than one-tenth of a percent. And the NASDAQ slid half a percent.

European stock prices closed higher.

London's Financial Times index gained 1.1 percent to end at 5,854. The CAC-40 in Paris jumped 1.6 percent to close at 3,755. And the DAX index in Frankfurt finished up four-tenths of a percent at 7,221.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained nearly 1.2 percent to finish at 10,006. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up nearly one-half of a percent to finish the day's trading at 22,004.

The price of gold jumped more than $9 to trade at $1,597.55 an ounce.

The dollar lost value against the yen and the euro.