US stocks tumble on Trump tariff threat over Greenland

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks opened decisively lower Tuesday as fresh US tariff threats on Europe over Greenland boosted precious metals and weighed on equities and other riskier assets.

US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs of up to 25 percent on eight European countries, prompting vows of a European response over US “blackmail.”

The US dollar fell, while yields on US Treasury bonds jumped.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3 percent at 48,709.99.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.4 percent to 6,844.69, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.7 percent to 23,116.21.

READ MORE: Wall Street Week Ahead: Investors bank on US earnings strength as policy noise grows louder

The worry “is that the tariff threat provokes retaliatory actions by the EU, triggering a new trade war,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

“The residual and overarching concern is that a possible military move by the US to take Greenland destroys the fabric of NATO.”

Netflix rose 1.6 percent as it shifted its $82.7 billion agreement to acquire Warner Bros Discovery to an all-cash structure. Warner Bros fell 1.0 percent, while Paramount Skydance – which has made unsolicited proposals for the assets – was also down around 1.0 percent.