Wall Street closes 1% in the red amid North Korea tensions

US stock indices closed lower on Thursday, marking the worst daily performance for S&P 500 since May 17, amid mounting concerns in the markets regarding the US-North Korea escalation, nudging investors towards safe havens such as gold and silver and away from the stock market. 

Earlier US data showed producer prices shrank unexpectedly in July, as core prices also fell, while yearly readings for both slowed down unexpectedly last month. 

Similarly, unemployment claims for the week ending august 5 rose to 244 thousand from 241K, above expectations of 240K, while continuing claims for the week ending July 29 fell 16 thousand to 1.951 million from 1.967M, below expectations of 1.96M.  

Dow Jones tumbled 0.93%, or 204.69 points to 21,844.01, while Standard and Poor's 500 tumbled 1.45%, or 35.81 points to 2,438.21, as NASDAQ Composite plunged 2.13%, or 135.46 points to 6,216.87. 

Gold futures due on December 16 rose 0.92% to $1,291.10 an ounce from the opening of $1,279.30, while the dollar index dipped 0.17% to 93.39 from the opening of 93.55. 

Otherwise, US crude futures due on September 15 skidded 2.16% to $48.49 a barrel from the opening of $49.56, while Brent crude futures due on October 15 swooned 1.67% to $51.82 a barrel from the opening of $52.60.