The latest escalation in the rhetoric between the US and North Korea weighed on the benchmark US indices, while falls among heavyweight technology names outweighed gains in the Energy sector following the latest surge on crude markets - Dow down -54-points or 0.24% and the broader S&P500 -0.22%. The technology-centric NASDAQ fell -0.88%. its steepest single session loss in ~5-weeks (since 17 August) as the 'FANG' stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google/Alphabet) all retreated. North Korea's foreign minister Ri Yong Ho reportedly said "Since the US declared war on our country we will have every right to take counter measures, including the right to shoot down the US strategic bombers even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country." The small-cap Russell 2000 set a record close after hitting an all-time high of 1,455.22, surpassing the prior intra-day high touched on July 25.
