The Dow had its biggest drop since September.
Financial markets around the world are under pressure Wednesday following a report that President Donald Trump asked James Comey, then the FBI director, to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn in February.
US stocks tumbled at the start of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its biggest drop since September. The selling also hit the US dollar, and bond markets, as well as major stock benchmarks in Asia and Europe.
The latest reports "merely add fuel to the existing fires of political uncertainty," with "apparent White House incoherence slowly sapping faith in stimulus policies getting even partisan approval," Mike van Dulken, the head of research at Accendo Markets, said in a note.
The concern is that focus on Trump and his associates' ties to Russia would delay the implementation of new tax and healthcare policies. Financial stocks, considered a key beneficiary of Trump's proposed policies, were the biggest decliners on the S&P 500 in early trading.
- The Dow was down by 235 points, or 1.12%, at 10:15 a.m. ET.
- The S&P 500, which notched an intraday high on Tuesday, was down by 24 points, or 1.03%, to 2,375.95.
Also, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, which indicates how much protection traders are buying, was climbing after a prolonged period of subdued activity.
The Japanese yen is up by 0.6%, trading at 112.42 against the US dollar, while gold is up by 0.8%, sitting at $1,246.52 an ounce.
Comey's memo as reported by The Times said that in one meeting the president asked him to drop the FBI's investigation of Flynn.
"He is a good guy," Trump reportedly told Comey. "I hope you can let this go."
The Dow had its biggest drop since September. Read Full Story
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