Markets fall as Trump follows up ‘fire and fury’ warning to North Korea
Washington/Seoul — US President Donald Trump followed up his incendiary warning to North Korea against threatening the US with a boast on Wednesday about the strength of the American nuclear arsenal, although he expressed hope it would not need to be used. The standoff drove investors out of stocks on Wednesday and into the safety of the yen, Swiss franc, gold and government debt. South Korea’s benchmark index and Japan’s Nikkei both closed down more than 1%. Wall Street stocks fell amid the rising anxiety. US Treasury yields fell, with the benchmark 10-year yield hitting a six-week low. Trump’s Twitter messages about the nuclear arsenal came after North Korea said it was considering plans for a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam. That in turn followed Trump’s comments on Tuesday that any North Korean threat to the US would be met with "fire and fury". "My first order as president was to renovate and modernise our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powe...
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