U.S. stock market indexes slid sharply in midday trading Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 key stocks and the broader S&P 500 are both off 2.8 percent. The technology-laden NASDAQ is down 2.4 percent.
European stock markets closed with substantial losses.
London's Financial Times 100 index ended down 2.4 percent to close at 5,215. The CAC-40 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 one 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.
The price of gold is down $3.25 to trade at $1,866.95 an ounce.
The dollar was higher against the euro, down against the yen.