The major U.S. stock indexes posted slight gains in Thursday's midday trading, following reports on jobless claims and the housing market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up six-tenths of one percent. The S&P 500 Index rose almost half a percent. And the NASDAQ gained one-quarter of a percent.

European stock prices closed lower.

London's Financial Times index fell three-quarters of a percent to end at 5,699. The CAC-40 in Paris slid four-tenths of a percent to close at 3,792. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt slipped less than one-tenth of a percent to finish at 7,110.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index plunged 1.7 percent to finish at 9,411. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost almost 1.8 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,953.

The price of gold fell more than $1 to trade at $1,529.75 an ounce.

The dollar was down against the yen but rose against the euro.