The major U.S. stock indexes kept sliding in Wednesday’s midday trading, after a series of reports showed factories stalling and layoffs on the rise.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nine-tenths of a percent, on pace for its longest losing streak in more than 30 years. The S&P 500 index dipped eight-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ fell four-tenths of a percent.

European stock prices closed sharply lower. London’s Financial Times index fell 2.3 percent to end at 5,585. The CAC-40 in Paris plunged 1.9 percent to finish at 3,455. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt dove 2.3 percent to close at 6,641.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei index slid more than 2 percent to finish at 9,637. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.9 percent to finish the day’s trading at 21,993.

The price of gold gained almost $8 to trade at $1,667.27 an ounce, after earlier hitting an intraday record high .

The dollar fell against the yen and the euro.