(Updates headline and prices throughout, adds oil settlement)
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Trump steps up push to take control of Greenland
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Stocks selloff across Wall Street, Europe and Asia
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US Treasury yields spike, curve steepens
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Gold, silver climb to record highs
By Chibuike Oguh and Elizabeth Howcroft
NEW YORK/PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Global stocks were
lower across the board on Tuesday, with a selloff in equities on
Wall Street, Europe and Asia, amid increased market volatility
after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to reignite a trade
war with Europe over Greenland.
Trump said he no longer thought "purely of peace" after he
did not win the Nobel Peace Prize and reiterated a threat to
increase tariffs on EU members Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, along with Britain and
Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.
The threats reignited the "Sell America" trade that emerged
after Trump's "Liberation Day" levies announced last April.
EU leaders will discuss options, including tariffs worth 93
billion euros ($109 billion) on U.S. imports, at an emergency
summit in Brussels on Thursday.
"The geopolitical risks that we've been talking about for a
long time are re-emerging and are shifting market perceptions of
common alliances across allies in Europe," said Wasif Latif,
chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners in New Jersey.
"That is coupled with what's going on in Japan with the JGB
yields continuing to rise and the market caught asleep at the
wheel on that risk that's out there. So it's all coming together
for a pretty significant risk off day."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.75%, the S&P 500
fell 1.97% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.19%.
Wall Street's most-watched gauge of investor anxiety, the Cboe
Volatility Index, jumped to an eight-week high of 20.75.
Europe's STOXX 600 fell 0.7% on the day, having already
fallen 1.2% on Monday, while the MSCI World Equity
Index was down 1.39%. The FTSE 100 fell 0.67%
.
Overnight in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan closed lower by 0.63%, while
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.11%. Japanese government bonds
(JGBs) plunged, sending yields to record highs, after Prime
Minister Sanae Takaichi's calling of a snap election shook
confidence in the country's fiscal health.
"But we have to take all this with a grain of salt because
what we've seen in prior times is that we get a risk off and a
selloff like this and the Trump administration and the powers
that be walk things back and calm things down," Latif added.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Davos on
Tuesday that he was confident that the U.S. and European
countries would find a solution over the Trump administration's
aim to take over Greenland, brushing off "hysteria" about a
possible trade war.
TARIFFS THREATENED ON FRENCH WINES AND CHAMPAGNE
Trump separately threatened to hit French wines and champagne
with 200% tariffs, in an apparent effort to cajole French
President Emmanuel Macron to join his Board of Peace initiative.
Amelie Derambure, senior multi-asset portfolio manager at
Amundi in Paris, said that the downward move in markets was
"precautionary profit-taking and some risk reduction," but that
markets were helped by the macroeconomic backdrop.
The euro was up 0.67% against the dollar at $1.1723, having
earlier hit its highest since January 2. The Japanese yen
strengthened 0.02% against the greenback to 158.08 per
dollar. The dollar index was down 0.54% at 98.55 heading
for its second day of declines.
U.S. Treasury yields hit their highest since September in
early trading. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for a public
holiday, so the moves were a delayed reaction to the
developments that began over the weekend.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 5.4
basis points to 4.285%. The yield curve between 2-year and
10-year U.S. Treasuries, and between 10-year and 30-year U.S.
Treasuries, steepened by the most since October
.
The yield on the benchmark German 10-year Bunds
fell 0.5 basis points to 2.856%.
Oil prices edged higher, with Brent crude futures up 1.2% at
$64.71 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate settled
up 1.51% at $60.34 a barrel.
Gold hit a record high, rising above $4,700 an ounce.
It was last up rose 2% to $4,763.28 an ounce.
Spot silver slipped 0.20% to $94.53/oz, after hitting
a record $95.87 earlier.
($1 = 0.8535 euros)