U.S. stock market indexes were mostly down in Monday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated three-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 fell two-tenths of a percent but the NASDAQ was unchanged.

European stock markets were mixed at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost two-tenths of a percent to end at 5,925. The CAC-40 in Paris moved down eight-tenths of a percent to finish at 3,813 but the DAX in Frankfurt rose three-tenths of a percent to hit 7,345.

Earlier, in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped eight-tenths of a percent to close at 10,050. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell seven-tenths of a percent to end at 22,293.

The price of gold rose more than $10 to trade at $1,611.91 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.