NEW YORK - Stocks rose on Thursday while safe-haven precious metals extended losses after Donald Trump rowed back on his threat to hit key European countries with tariffs over their opposition to a US takeover of Greenland.
The gains were also fuelled by a surge in regional tech giants as the artificial intelligence trade roared back into the spotlight after the head of Nvidia said the sector needed "trillions of dollars" more investment.
Markets have been whipped by volatility this week after the US president said at the weekend he would hammer several nations -- including Germany, France, Britain and Denmark, with levies for their pushback against his grab for the North Atlantic island.
The threat sparked a warning of retaliation, with French President Emmanuel Macron raising the possibility of deploying an unused, powerful instrument aimed at deterring economic coercion, fanning fears of a trade war between the economic giants.
But traders breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday when the US president told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that he would not take the Danish autonomous territory by force -- as he had hinted -- and later said he had retracted his tariff threat.
"We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region," he wrote in a post on Truth Social, without providing details.
"Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st," he said.
The news fuelled a rally of more than one percent in US stocks, which had tanked on Tuesday on their return from a long weekend.
Asia followed suit, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Taipei and Manila all up.
Paris and Frankfurt jumped more than one percent at the open, while London was also sharply higher.
Gold and silver, which have hit multiple records this week on a push into safe havens by worried traders, both fell on Wednesday and extended their retreat in Asia.