U.S. and European stock indexes are lower in afternoon trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down seven-tenths of one percent, while the S&P 500 is off one percent. The NASDAQ is down 1.1 percent.

European stock markets closed sharply lower.

London's Financial Times 100 index ended down 1.3 percent to finish at 5,128. The CAC-40 in Paris closed off 1.5 percent , at 2,982. The DAX in Frankfurt slid 2.4 percent to end at 5,502.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index was virtually unchanged, to close at 8,700.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 2.3 percent , to end at 17,592.

Gold was trading up $16.74 at $1,631.43 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was up against both the euro and yen.