U.S. stock market indexes rose strongly in Friday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent and the NASDAQ gained 2.4 percent.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost less than one-tenth of one percent to finish at 5,130. The CAC-40 in Paris moved down 1 percent to end at 3,088, and the DAX in Frankfurt dropped eight-tenths of a percent to reach 5,537.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained three-tenths of one percent , to close at 8,798. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped nine-tenths of a percent , to end at 19,583.

The price of gold rose more than $8 to trade at $1,782.63 an ounce.

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.