Stocks fell and investors fled to safe-haven assets on Tuesday, as global markets reacted to escalating tensions between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Global stocks fell and investors fled to safe-haven assets on Tuesday, as global markets reacted to escalating tensions between the world’s two largest nuclear powers: Russia and the U.S.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 stock index was down almost 1% at 12:23 p.m. London time, hitting 498.56 points — its lowest level since August. In the U.S., stock futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, S&P futures slid around 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.1%.
The declines come after Russian President Vladimir Putin amended Russia’s nuclear doctrine that outlines the conditions that would prompt Moscow to deploy its nuclear arsenal, Russian state news agency Tass reported Tuesday.
Critically, Russia has now widely expanded the circumstances under which it will consider nuclear retaliation, with Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the updated code now “states that the Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression with the use of conventional weapons against it or the Republic of Belarus, which creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity. Aggression against the Russian Federation by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered a joint attack”, according to NBC News reporting.
The prospect of a potential nuclear escalation propeled investors into safe-haven markets, with gold prices up 0.8% at 11:52 a.m. London time.
