U. S. stocks gave up early gains on Tuesday as rising tensions between the United states and North Korea weighed, while investors awaited Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech for more clarity on interest rate hikes.
(Reuters) — U. S. stocks gave up early gains on Tuesday as rising tensions between the United states and North Korea weighed, while investors awaited Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech for more clarity on interest rate hikes.
North Korean has boosted defenses on its east coast, a South Korean lawmaker said, following Pyongyang’s threat that it would shoot down U. S. bombers flying near the peninsula.
U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford said the United States should assume that North Korea has the ability to hit U. S. mainland and that it has the will to use that capacity.
Yellen’s speech is also in focus after Fed officials gave differing views on inflation, keeping investors guessing about the path that the central bank plans to take on interest rates.
“The Fed is in a bit of a quandary,” said Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenberg Thalmann Asset Management in New York.
“The market is concerned about the Fed being aggressive, perhaps pushing us to a place where we don’t want to be, whether its an inverted yield curve or recession”.
