Global Financial News: Investors Trim Risky Bets

Here is your summary of the financial news from around the world:

 1. British retail sales grew at their slowest pace in nearly nine years over the first three months of the year, according to industry data published Tuesday, as consumers reined-in non-food purchases amid accelerating inflation.

2. European stocks opened lower Tuesday as investors trim risky bets amid concern over potential military action in Syria and an escalation of tensions in North Korea.

3. Toshiba's (TOSYY) auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC, are said to be concerned about accounting irregularities within Toshiba and also in the group's former U.S. nuclear division, Westinghouse, which filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year amid a masssive $6.2 billion goodwill writedown linked to cost overruns.

 4. In France, the CAC 40 dropped at the start of trading, although the larger focus for investors will be the tightening polls in the country's presidential elections, which suggest a narrowing gap between frontrunner Emmanuel Macron and far right anti-European candidate Marine Le Pen.