The daily business briefing: May 18, 2017

Trump's troubles drag down stocks, Ford announces fewer job cuts than expected, and more

Workers in a Ford plant
(Image credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

1. Stocks plunge as Trump's troubles scare investors

Global stocks dropped on Thursday, with several key Asia indexes down about 1 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index losing 0.5 percent in early trading after the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to investigate ties between President Trump's campaign and Russia. U.S. stock futures edged down, too, early Thursday, after the main indexes plunged on Wednesday after reports that Trump might have asked then-FBI director James Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn's Russia ties. Critics said the news could expose Trump to allegations of obstruction of justice, raising doubts he will be able to follow through on promised policies to stimulate the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 372 points, or about 1.8 percent, its biggest loss since September. The S&P 500 lost about 1.8 percent, too, while the Nasdaq composite dropped by 2.6 percent.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.