European stock markets were sharply lower in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times index fell 2.7 percent and the CAC-40 index in Paris was off 3 percent. The DAX index in Frankfurt was down more than 1 percent.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei Index fell 2.4 percent, or 407 points, to finish at 16,764. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell nearly 3 percent - 647 points - to end at 21,793.
The price of gold rose more than $7 to trade at $669.60 cents an ounce.
The dollar was down against the yen and the euro. - VOA News
