NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - An index of global shares was lower on Wednesday, pressured by choppy trading on Wall Street and a dip in European stocks, as U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats on auto, semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports injected a sense of caution into the markets.
Since his inauguration four weeks ago, Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, on top of existing levies. He has also announced, and delayed for a month, 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that sector-wide tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips would start at "25% or higher," rising substantially over the course of a year. He intends to impose similar tariffs on autos as soon as April 2.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 0.35% to 44,398.89, the S&P 500 (.SPX), fell to 6,127.53 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), fell 0.06% to 20,030.17.
Stocks in Europe extended losses as a rally in drugmakers and miners faded, adding to pressure from a broad-based decline in UK equities after data showed a pickup in British inflation. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX), was last down 0.95%.
Both benchmark S&P 500 and STOXX 600 indexes finished at record highs on Tuesday.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), fell 0.26% to 885.34.
"In general the bias for markets remains upwards but if you look shorter term over the last few days, it's more mixed because the market tends to trade around the latest indications of the Trump administration," said Julian McManus, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.
"That tends to be unsettling and markets tend to trade off whenever they hear the word tariff because they think it means either risk for a particular country or they think inflation."
Minutes from the U.S. Fed's January meeting, when the central bank held borrowing costs at 4.25% to 4.5%, are due later on Wednesday. That follows hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in testimony to Congress last week and hot consumer price data.
Safe-haven currencies led by the U.S. dollar and yen gained, as market jitters escalated amid the latest round of tariff threats. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.29% against the greenback to 151.62 per dollar. Against the Swiss franc , the dollar strengthened 0.19% to 0.905.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.29% to 107.31. The euro was down 0.36% at $1.0407.
Gold prices rose to a record high on safe-haven demand. Spot gold fell 0.34% to $2,925.45 an ounce. It surged to an all-time high of $2,946.85 per ounce earlier in the session. Prices scaled a record for the ninth time this year.
U.S. gold futures fell 0.14% to $2,927.50 an ounce.
Oil prices gained on worries about supply disruptions in Russia and the U.S, even as the market awaits the outcome of peace talks.
European leaders vowed to step up support for Ukraine, and the expectation for an increase in defence spending has propelled shares in European arms manufacturers to record highs this week, and pushed up governments' long-term borrowing costs.
Brent futures rose 0.83% at $76.46 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.13% to $72.66.
Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Helen Popper, Angus MacSwan and Chris Reese
