US STOCKS-Wall Street skids to near three-week low as Greenland dispute triggers global sell-off

By Sruthi Shankar and Pranav Kashyap

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes started the holiday-truncated week on a dour note as investors were spooked by fresh tariff threats from President Donald Trump against Europe amid a dispute over control of Greenland.

The major indexes slid toward three-week lows on Tuesday amid a risk-off wave that vaulted gold to fresh record highs, knocked stocks lower globally and left U.S. Treasuries wobbling under renewed selling pressure.

The Nasdaq broke below its 50-day moving average - an important technical threshold - while the S&P 500 hovered at the edge.

Trump said on Saturday additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain — all already subject to tariffs imposed by the U.S.

The tariffs would increase to 25% on June 1 and would continue until a deal was reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. Leaders of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, and Denmark have insisted the island is not for sale.

"We think we'll settle down and realize this is just a negotiation tool," said Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial.

"We certainly don't expect a military conflict with Greenland or Denmark or our European allies. But the fact that tariffs were used have got investors a little bit rattled."

Critical Metals CRML.O, which has a strategic presence in Greenland, slipped 2.7%.

On Tuesday, Trump marks one year back in office - a volatile period for markets that saw the S&P 500 plunge to near bear market territory following "Liberation Day" tariffs in April before rebounding to record highs on strong earnings and a resilient economy.

The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, touched a two-month high at 19.02 points.

At 11:18 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 582.97 points, or 1.16%, to 48,785.03, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 79.86 points, or 1.15%, to 6,860.50 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 317.67 points, or 1.34%, to 23,199.07.

JAM-PACKED WEEK OF DATA AND EARNINGS

Investors headed into a jam-packed week, with a slate of market-moving data such as the third-quarter U.S. GDP update, January PMI readings and the Personal Consumption Expenditures report, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

Earnings season is also kicking into a higher gear. Several industry bellwethers, including Intel INTC.O, Netflix and NFLX.O, are set to report their quarterly earnings this week.

Netflix NFLX.O gained 0.6%, after switching to an all-cash offer for Warner Bros Discovery's WBD.O studio and streaming assets without increasing the $82.7 billion bid.

The streaming giant, due to report its quarterly earnings after the bell, was the only stock in the mega-cap 'FAANG' group of tech stocks - Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google - to trade in the green.

Industrial bellwether 3M MMM.N tumbled 8.5% after forecasting annual adjusted profit a touch below Wall Street expectations, while Fastenal FAST.O fell 3.8% after missing fourth-quarter revenue estimates.

Of the 33 S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday, 84.8% topped analysts' expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Trump could decide on the next Federal Reserve chair as soon as next week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC - keeping markets uneasy after the administration recently threatened to indict Chair Jerome Powell.

Markets are also watching speeches by global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Among other stocks, RAPT Therapeutics RAPT.O soared 63.9% after Britain's GSK GSK.L agreed to buy the U.S. firm for $2.2 billion.