U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the close of Thursday's trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell half a percent to end at 12,240. The S & P 500 lost three-tenths of a percent to close at 1,301 while the NASDAQ index rose one-tenth of a percent to hit 2,766.

Stocks were mixed at the close in Europe.

London's Financial Times index advanced three-tenths of a percent to close at 5,873. The CAC-40 in Paris dropped six-tenths of a percent to finish at 3,713. The DAX index in Frankfurt fell nine-tenths of a percent to close at 7,190.

Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 1.5 percent to finish at 9,901. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained one-tenth of a percent to finish the day's trading at 22,571.

The price of gold rose more than $1 to trade at $1,614.49 an ounce.

The dollar is weaker against the yen but stronger against the euro.