U.S. stock market indexes were sharply lower at closing Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.7 percent to close at 10,992.

The S&P 500 was also down 2.7 percent at 1,154. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.4 percent to end the day at 2,468.

European stock markets closed with sharp losses as well.

London's Financial Times 100 index ended down 2.4 percent to close at 5,215. The CAC-40 index in Paris dropped 3.6 percent to end at 2,975. The DAX in Frankfurt fell 4 percent to close at 5,190.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost six-tenths of 1 percent to finish at 8,738. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell nearly one-quarter of one percent to finish the day's trading at 19,867.

Gold closed at $1,856.40 per ounce, up from $1,854.40 on Thursday.

The dollar was higher against the euro but lower against the yen.