Wall Street declined as the war of words between North Korea and the U.S. escalated ahead of Asian trade on Tuesday.

Geopolitical tensions came to the fore again overnight after North Korea’s foreign minister said U.S. President Donald Trump had declared war. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said that meant the North could target and shoot down U.S. bombers in return. The White House responded that the U.S. had not declared war on the hermit state late on Monday.

The ramp up in saber-rattling followed Trump’s speech at the United Nations last week, where the president had warned that if forced, the U.S. would have “no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

Safe haven assets were buoyed, with spot gold climbing back above the $1,300 level overnight. The yellow metal, often regarded as a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty, traded at $1,308.27 an ounce at 6:48 a.m. HK/SIN compared with the $1,290 handle most of last week.

The Japanese currency firmed to trade at 111.74 yen to the dollar after trading at the 112 handle during Asian trade on Monday.

Markets stateside were jittery on Monday, with a fall in technology stocks adding to declines in major indexes. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 0.24 percent, or 53.5 points, to close at 22,296.09, the S&P 500 lost 0.22 percent, or 5.56 points, to finish at 2,496.66, and the Nasdaq tumbled 0.88 percent, or 56.33 points, to finish the session at 6,370.59.

In Asia, futures suggested a lower open for Japanese equities. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were down 0.8 percent at 20,235 and Osaka futures were down 1.07 percent at 20,180 at 6:25 a.m. HK/SIN. Those were below the Nikkei 225’s Monday close of 20,397.58.

Meanwhile, Australian SPI futures were mostly unchanged, tracking higher by 0.02 percent at 5,685 compared with the S&P/ASX 200’s last close of 5,683.73.

Elsewhere, the euro retreated following the German election on Sunday. While provisional results showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party had the most votes, she will likely face a tough coalition negotiation. Support for a far-right party was also larger than expected. The common currency traded at $1.1852 at 6:54 a.m. HK/SIN, touching lowest levels since late August.

Also in politics, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he would be dissolving the lower house of parliament on Sept. 28 ahead of a snap election expected on Oct. 22, Reuters said.

Investors also digested comments from New York Fed President William Dudley and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans. Dudley said Monday that the central bank was on the path to slowly increasing interest rates as “temporary” factors affecting inflation faded, Reuters said. Evans adopted a more cautious tone, stating that the Fed had to wait for marked signs that prices were increasing before raising rates.

In corporate news, the sale of Toshiba’s memory chip unit to a group led by Bain Capital for $18 billion had yet to be signed, according to Reuters. Toshiba had informed its banks on Monday that Apple, which is part of the consortium, had not agreed with conditions in the sale.

On the energy front, oil prices rose more than 3 percent overnight as oil producers indicated that rebalancing was gradually taking place. Brent crude rose 3.8 percent to settle at $59.02 a barrel, its highest level since mid-2015. U.S. crude advanced 3 percent to settle at $52.22.

Here’s the economic calendar for Tuesday (all times HK/SIN):

• 7:50 a.m.: Bank of Japan minutes
• 1:00 p.m.: Singapore industrial production
• 4:30 p.m.: Hong Kong August trade data