The major U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the close of Thursday's trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained a half-percent to end at 11,962. The S&P 500 Index rose two-tenths of a percent to close at 1,268. And the NASDAQ fell almost three-tenths of a percent to end at 2,624.

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 Thursday, 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 $2 to trade at $1,528.95 an ounce.

The dollar fell against the yen and the euro.