US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed Denmark as ‘irrelevant’ as he shrugged off a market sell-off amid Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland.
Stocks, bonds and the dollar fell on Tuesday while gold and silver prices rose as traders fretted over the stand off between the United States and Europe – and a Japanese bond slump added to the darkening mood.
Markets were steadier on Wednesday morning, albeit in the red, ahead of President Trump’s arrival at Davos. The FTSE 100 slipped 14 points to 10,111, while France’s CAC was down 0.26 per cent and Germany’s DAX extended its losses by 0.59 per cent.
President Trump’s threats over Greenland triggered a sell-off on Tuesday
Bessent’s remarks on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos came as global political and business leaders steeled themselves for Trump’s arrival at summit.
He is set to address the meeting later, though his flight from the United States was delayed overnight by three hours due to an electrical fault.
It comes after Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries – including the UK – who are opposed to his plan to seize Greenland from Denmark met with furious opposition.
The announcement that a Danish pension fund would sell off its $100m holding of US bonds has added to concerns that a ‘sell America’ trade was taking hold.
But Bessent told a press conference in Davos: ‘Denmark’s investment in US Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant. They’ve been selling Treasuries for years. I’m not concerned at all.
‘I think it is very difficult to disaggregate any of the noise around Greenland, around the inflammatory statements by President Macron, by President von der Leyen, from what we have seen in the Japanese bond markets.’
The remarks came after Wall Street stocks fell by around 2 per cent on Tuesday while the dollar saw its biggest fall in over a month.
Bessent has previously dismissed the reaction to the Greenland row as ‘hysteria’ while Chancellor Rachel Reeves has urged all sides to keep ‘cool heads’.
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
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