U.S. stock indexes slid in midday trading Monday, following bigger losses on key exchanges in Europe and Asia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 key stocks is off nine-tenths of one percent, while the broader S&P 500 is down eight-tenths of one percent. The technology-laden NASDAQ is down three-tenths of a percent.

European stock markets finished sharply lower.

London's Financial Times 100 index dropped 1.6 percent to end at 5,130. The CAC-40 in Paris plunged 4 percent to close at 2,855. The DAX in Frankfurt slid 2.3 percent to close at 5,072.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped 2.3 percent to close at 8,536.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index plunged 4.2 percent to end at 19,031.

Gold was trading down $36.82 at $1,818.88 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was trading higher against the euro, but down against the yen.