U.S. stock market indexes fell sharply in Thursday's midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 1.1 percent, and the NASDAQ dropped two-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were lower at the close of trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost 1.7 percent to close at 5,674. The CAC-40 in Paris moved down 2.2 percent to end at 3,788 and the DAX in Frankfurt slid 1.8 percent to finish at 7,149.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost three-tenths of a percent to finish at 9,597. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost half a percent to finish the day's trading at 21,759.

The price of gold fell more than $27 trade at $1,521.75 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen and the euro.