Gold prices rose sharply on Wednesday, as investors piled into safe haven assets amid intensifying tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, with Pyongyang saying it is considering plans to attack Guam.
A spokesman for the Korean People's Army said in a statement that it was "carefully examining" plans for a missile attack on the U.S. Pacific territory, which has a large American military base.
The comments came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea that any threat to the U.S. would be met with "fire and fury".
The escalating tensions prompted investors to dump assets seen as riskier, such as stocks and high yielding currencies, and flock to traditional safe haven assets like the yen, Swiss franc and gold.
Comex gold futures jumped $13.50, or around 1.1%, to $1,276.10 a troy ounce by 8:10AM ET (1210GMT).
The yellow metal settled slightly lower on Tuesday, after touching its weakest level since July 26 at $1,257.10, after JOLTs data showed a record amount of job openings.
With no major economic reports on Wednesday's calendar, market players looked ahead to monthly inflation indicators due later in the week for fresh clues on the timing of the next Fed rate hike.
A report on U.S. producer prices for July is due out on Thursday and the consumer price inflation report will be released on Friday.
The yellow metal has been well-supported in recent weeks as fading expectations for a third Fed rate hike this year combined with deepening political turmoil in the White House boosted the appeal of the precious metal.