Investors Turn to Safe Haven Assets After U.S. Airstrikes in Syria

Investors were piling into safe haven assets as governments from around the world have a mixed response to the U.S. airstrikes in Syria.

Author:: Edward Hardy
Publish date:: Apr 7, 2017 5:49 AM EDT

President Donald Trump on Thursday night ordered airstrikes in Syria following a deadly chemical weapons attack this week. Trump said the strikes were in the "national security interest," focused on an airfield and were launched from the USS Porter and the USS Ross just after midnight European times. Around 59 Tomahawk missiles hit multiple targets, according the Pentagon.

Global oil and gold prices surged early on Friday morning. U.S. futures are pointing to markets opening down. WTI futures for May delivery leaped more than 3% following news of the attacks and were last seen changing hands at $52.45 per barrel. Brent contracts for the same month, the global benchmark, also rose sharply, rising 2.8% to $55.62 per barrel. U.S. Treasury bonds also rallied as investors pulled risky bets from the market, taking yields on benchmark 10-year notes to 2.30% after briefly trading at 2.29%