U.S. stocks were narrowly mixed in early trading Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead by one-tenth of a percent, while the S&P was down two-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ composite index was virtually unchanged from Thursday's close.

European stock indexes were lower in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index is down three-tenths of one percent. The CAC-40 in Paris slid seven-tenths of one percent, while the DAX index in Frankfurt dropped two-tenths of one percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei index index gained 1.4 percent to finish at 9,050.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.7 percent to finish the day's trading at 20,019.

Gold is trading virtually unchanged at $1,745.07 an ounce.

The dollar is trading up against the euro, but down against the yen.