The major U.S. stock indexes edged lower in Wednesday's early trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid one-quarter of a percent. The S&P 500 index dropped two-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ fell one-tenth of a percent.

European stock prices also dropped in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times index fell 1.2 percent. The CAC-40 in Paris slid six-tenths of a percent. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt fell 1.1 percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index slid more than 2 percent to finish at 9,637. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.9 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,993.

The price of gold gained almost $11 to trade at $1,670.32.

The dollar fell against the yen and the euro.