US Market Lower as Geopolitical Tensions Rise

U.S. stocks edged lower on Tuesday as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula pushed investors to safe-haven assets such as gold.

The White House said on Monday President Donald Trump was open to authorizing additional strikes on Syria if its government uses chemical weapons again or deploys barrel bombs, while North Korea warned of a nuclear attack on the United States if provoked as a U.S. Navy strike group moved towards the western Pacific.

Prices of safe-haven gold rose, with spot gold XAU= up the most in over two weeks. Investors also ditched riskier assets for the Japanese yen and U.S. Treasuries.

The dollar index .DXY slipped by the most in about two weeks and oil prices eased from five-week highs.

“Heightening geopolitical fears are likely to constrain investors from a mood change…(and) are likely to keep the safety trade, gold and U.S. Treasuries, in play,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial wrote in a note.

At 9:42 a.m. ET (1342 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 52.2 points, or 0.25 percent, at 20,605.82, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 9.26 points, or 0.39 percent, at 2,347.9 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 22.45 points, or 0.38 percent, at 5,858.47.

via Reuters

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