The dollar traded mixed against main rivals and gold hit a fresh record high.
“There is a whiff of risk aversion about financial markets today,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “The global stock market uptrend is facing a little more resistance on the upside.”
The three main Wall Street indexes were lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down the most at about 2%.
In Europe, all the main markets were lower with Frankfurt down about 1% percent.
“The trade war is once again grinding its gears, and Beijing is showing no signs of slamming the brakes,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
“That tone, combined with another twist in US rhetoric sent traders sprinting for the nearest safe haven.” China on Tuesday said it was ready to “fight to the end” in a trade war with the US after President Donald Trump said he would slap additional 100% tariffs on goods from the country.
Trump’s latest threat, revealed in a Friday social media post, was in response to Beijing’s announcement last week of sweeping new export controls in the strategic field of rare earths — currently dominated by China.
Trump also announced in the post that Washington would impose export controls “on any and all critical software” from Nov 1.
The latest escalation has rattled markets and called into question a potential upcoming meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Stocks have also been pressured by growing concerns that a long-running rally for the artificial intelligence sector may have been overdone and a bubble is forming.
Citigroup bucked the trend, rising almost one percent, after it presented strong earnings, with almost all the major US banks due to report earnings this week. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were lower after reporting their results. In Europe, London limited its losses as the pound retreated on weak UK jobs data, boosting multinationals.
Tokyo and Paris stock markets were additionally hit by political unrest in Japan and France, according to analysts.
Earlier, Tokyo closed down 2.6% as the country’s top opposition parties sought to find a unified candidate for prime minister and oust the ruling party from power.
The agreement comes after the ruling coalition collapsed last week, putting in peril Sanae Takaichi’s bid to become the country’s first woman premier.
In Europe, embattled French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu presented a cost-cutting budget to a divided parliament on Tuesday, with parties on both ends of the political spectrum already trying to topple his government.
Paris was down half a point.
Among individual shares, Michelin plunged after it revised downward its revenue expectations in North America where its activities have been hit by tariffs. The French tyre maker had been down more than 8% but was last down 2.5%.
Oil slumped on concerns that trade wars will cut global growth amid well-stocked energy reserves.