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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks hit with across board selloff as Trump's threats over Greenland unnerves investors
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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks hit with across board selloff as Trump's threats over Greenland unnerves investors
Mar 11, 2026 1:05 AM

(Updates headline and prices throughout, adds oil settlement)

*

Trump steps up push to take control of Greenland

*

Stocks selloff across Wall Street, Europe and Asia

*

US Treasury yields spike, curve steepens

*

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)

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