Wall Street bleeds amid escalating US-North Korea rhetoric

US stock indices opened sharply lower amid growing tensions between America and North Korea, dragging Dow Jones below 22,000 for the first time in six sessions, while investors shift liquidity to safe havens such as gold. 

Earlier US data showed producers prices shrank 0.1% in July, compared to June's 0.1% rise, while core prices fell 0.1%, compared to a 0.1% rise in June, while analysts expected a 0.2% growth. 

On a yearly basis, both producer and core prices slowed 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.  

As of 03:58 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 fell 0.75%, or 18.64 points to 2,455.38, while Dow Jones declined 0.48%, or 106.41 points to 21,942.29. 

Tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled 1.06%, or 67.31 points to 6,284.94.