U.S. stock market indexes rose in Wednesday's early trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost six-tenths of one percent. The S&P 500 rose six-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ gained almost eight-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets were mixed in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times 100 index lost almost two-tenths of a percent. The CAC-40 in Paris slipped almost three-tenths of a percent. And the DAX in Frankfurt gained three-tenths of a percent.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained nearly four-tenths of one percent to finish at 9,963. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 1.2 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,927.

The price of gold advanced almost $10 to trade at $1,577.48 an ounce.

The dollar was higher against the yen but lower versus the euro.