Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border after repeated warnings to violations of Turkish airspace, as was reported earlier. Turkey's main stock index BIST 100 plunged about 4%, while the Turkish Lira lost 1% of its value. Other European shares weren't much luckier, as worries over rising geopolitical tensions, and a global travel warning by the U.S. government to its citizens have pushed travel stocks deeper into the red, dragging the pan-European index FTSEurofirst 300 down 1.94% to 1,471. Britain's FTSE lost 0.90% to 6,249, while Germany's DAX gave up 1.63% to 10,912. France's CAC 40 dove 2.0% to 4,792.

Wall Street opened lower in tandem, with Dow Jones losing 80 points, or 0.46% to 17,708. NASDAQ dipped 21 points, or 0.42% to 5,081. S&P 500 skidded 10 points, or 0.47% to 2,076.

U.K.'s retail sales grew at their slowest pace in nine months in November, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry showed, pushing Sterling to a two-week low against the dollar at 1.5078 with a 0.30% loss. Sterling slipped to a week low against Euro at 0.7067, with a 0.67% loss. It floundered to a two-and-a-half week trough against the yen at 184.62 with a 0.64% loss.

A survey by Ifo showed Germany's business morale at its highest since summer 2014, with German companies shrugging off China's worries and a scandal by automaker Volkswagen. Euro's index rose to 86.03 before steadying to 85.86 with a 0.12% profit. Euro gained 0.11% against the dollar to 1.0650.

Oil prices shot higher as geopolitical tensions tend to raise questions about supply stability. U.S. crude futures jumped $1.20, or about 3.0% to $42.97 a barrel. Brent futures for January gained $1.36, or 3.04% to $46.22 a barrel.

Gold prices were pushed higher as well as the dollar takes a step back away from its recent highs; with the precious metal's futures up 10 dollars, or about 1.0% to $1,077 an ounce. Silver futures gained 20 cents, or 1.52% to $14.24 an ounce.