European shares fall on Paris incident, North Korea worries

After a dip of as much as 0.52 percent earlier in the day, investors appeared to take some comfort in Tillerson’s comments, said Richard Steinberg, managing director at HighTower Advisors in NY.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were down 40.25 points, or 0.68 percent, on volume of 29,918 contracts. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 18 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,378. That’s the index’s lowest level in two months.

“But looking ahead unless we start to see a conflict break out or a major stock market correction, (gold) is capped at 1,295 (although) the upside at moment is the favored direction”. They outweighed gains in health care stocks and elsewhere. He is considered one of the most powerful members of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Investors on Thursday scampered to safe-haven assets such as gold and the Swiss franc, helping the precious metal hit a more two-month high. But by the end of the day, traders appeared to take the geopolitical drama in stride.

The CBOE Volatility Index, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term stock market volatility, ended at a session low of 11.11 after rising as high as 12.63.

LONDON (AP) _ Worries over a potential confrontation between the United States and North Korea weighed heavily on global stock markets on Wednesday but helped boost the price of assets, such as gold and the Swiss franc, that are considered safe havens in times of geopolitical peril. Trump’s comments came after a Washington Post report (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-now-making-missile-ready-nuclear-weapons-us-analysts-say/2017/08/08/e14b882a-7b6b-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?utm_term=.0938becb046e) that North Korea has built a miniaturized nuclear warhead. But the moves were modest.

Gold was up for the third day, hitting an intra-day high of $1,280.38 an ounce that was last recorded mid-June.

Benchmark US 10-year notes rose 9/32 in price to yield 2.2494 per cent, from 2.282 per cent late on Tuesday.

“Although it is considered highly unlikely that this tension will escalate into a nuclear war, the market still needs to see how President Trump will eventually deal with his advocating “fire and fury” against North Korea’s threat”, said Margaret Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore. The back and forth put investors in a selling mood for the third day in a row.

Travel website operator Priceline Group Inc fell 8.2 percent after a disappointing financial forecast. The stock lost $5.07 to $101.91.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 21.58 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 15,277.93 shortly after opening in negative territory. Nvidia fell $6.08, or 3.5 percent, to $166.03.

-North Korea tension also weighed on the Canadian dollar, which weakened against its USA counterpart, despite higher oil prices and stronger-than-expected domestic housing data.