US open: Stocks retreat on geopolitical concerns, gold rallies

US equity markets retreated on Tuesday as geopolitical concerns in Syria and North Korea weighed on investors while gold rallied.

At 1546 BST, Dow Jones Industrial was down 0.44% to 20,566.67, the S&P 500 fell 0.66% to 2,341.58, and the Nasdaq was 0.91% off at 5,827.38.

Meanwhile, oil prices were lower having finished the previous session at its highest level since 7 March, due to the shutdown of Libya's biggest oil field and expectations of increased US demand ahead of the summer driving season.

West Texas Intermediate was down 0.73% to $55.57 a barrel and Brent crude fell 0.49% to $52.82.

In currency markets, the dollar was down 0.37% against the pound to 0.8024, 0.22% weaker against the euro at 0.9416, and fell 0.78% versus the yen to 110.07.

Geopolitical concerns continued to build after North Korea denounced the US deployment of a navy strike group to the Korean Peninsula and warned that it was ready for war.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed there is a "window of opportunity" to persuade Russian to ditch its support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad. Foreign ministers for the Group of 7 countries rejected Britain’s call for sanctions on Russia and Syria following last week’s chemical attack.

FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said global stocks were vulnerable to losses on Tuesday due to the heightened geopolitical tensions, and this lack of appetite for riskier assets pressured Asian and European markets earlier.

The bearish sentiment spread to Wall Street as investors fled to safe haven assets with gold on comex up 1.12% to $1,267.70 per troy ounce, and US treasuries rallied with yields on the 10-year bond falling two basis points to 2.34%.

Elsewhere, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to take part in a Q&A session at 1845 BST.

His comments will come after Fed chief Janet Yellen suggested late on Monday that the central bank's focus has shifted from stimulating the economy to sustaining the progress that has pushed it close to the Fed's objectives.

On the data front, the number of job openings increased slightly in February, according to the Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

Job openings rose 5.74m from 5.62m in January and more than the 5.65m forecast. Over the month, hires and separations were little changed at 5.3m and 5.1m, respectively. Within separations, the quit rate was also little changed at 2.1%, and the layoffs and discharges rate was flat at 1.1%.

In corporate news, the worst performing sector on Tuesday was financials, which fell 0.4% and utilities which slipped 0.4%.

United Continental Holdings fell 3.05% and wiped about $375m off the airline’s market capitalisation after it was caught dragging a passenger off an overbooked flight. United said it had asked for four volunteers to leave the plane due to overbooking and one customer refused to give up his seat.

RetailMeNot soared 49.03% following news late on Monday that the coupons website has agreed to be bought by Harland Clarke Holdings for $11.60 a share, which is about 50% above its closing price on Monday.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, earnings from banking heavyweights JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are due on Thursday.