A report showing higher than expected inflation at the wholesale level discouraged U.S. investors Tuesday morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24 points at 10,229. The S & P 500 lost four points, falling to 1162, while the NASDAQ dropped nine points at 1986.
European share prices are mixed in afternoon trading. London's Financial Times index is up two tenths of a percent, while the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX index in Frankfurt are down at least three-tenths of a percent.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 122 points more than 1% t to finish at 10,825. And Hong Kong's Hang Seng index plunged 200 points-nearly 1.5% to end at 13,667.
The price of gold is up almost one dollar, trading at 420 dollars and 57 cents an ounce in New York.
The dollar is up against the yen and the euro in New York.