U.S. stocks declined Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost two-thirds of a percent to close at 11,505. The S&P 500 fell nearly 1.3 percent to finish at 1,210 while the NASDAQ dropped 2 percent to end at 2,604.

In Europe, stocks made gains by the close of trading. London's Financial Times index advanced seven-tenths of a percent to finish at 5,450. The CAC-40 in Paris moved up half a percent to end at 3,157 while the DAX index in Frankfurt rose six-tenths of a percent to hit 5,914.

Tokyo's Nikkei index gained nearly four-tenths of a percent to finish at 8,773. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.3 percent to finish the day's trading at 18,309.

The price of gold fell more than $15 to trade at $1,642.50 an ounce.

The dollar is down against the yen and the euro.