Wall Street declined as the war of words between North Korea and the U. S. escalated ahead of Asian trade on Tuesday.
Wall Street declined as the war of words between North Korea and the U. S. escalated ahead of Asian trade on Tuesday.
Geopolitical tensions came to the fore again overnight after North Korea’s foreign minister said U. S. President Donald Trump had declared war. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said that meant the North could target and shoot down U. S. bombers in return. The White House responded that the U. S. had not declared war on the hermit state late on Monday.
The ramp up in saber-rattling followed Trump’s speech at the United Nations last week, where the president had warned that if forced, the U. S. would have «no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.»
Safe haven assets were buoyed, with spot gold climbing back above the $1,300 level overnight. The yellow metal, often regarded as a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty, traded at $1,308.27 an ounce at 6:48 a.m. HK/SIN compared with the $1,290 handle most of last week.
The Japanese currency firmed to trade at 111.74 yen to the dollar after trading at the 112 handle during Asian trade on Monday.
Markets stateside were jittery on Monday, with a fall in technology stocks adding to declines in major indexes. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 0.24 percent, or 53.5 points, to close at 22,296.09, the S&P 500 lost 0.22 percent, or 5.56 points, to finish at 2,496.
