The daily business briefing: August 24, 2017

Trump's shutdown threat drags down stocks, Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 8, and more

The Galaxy Note 8 is unveiled
(Image credit: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Stocks rattled by Trump shutdown threat

U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday in what analysts called a sign that investors were spooked by President Trump's threat to shut down the government if necessary to get Congress to approve building his promised wall on the Mexican border. Shares briefly recovered some of their losses after House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called a shutdown unnecessary, but it wasn't enough to nudge the markets into positive territory. Congress will have just 12 working days to raise the debt ceiling after returning from summer recess on Sept. 5, and Trump's comment was seen as a potential obstacle in the talks. World stocks held steady early Thursday as investors awaited word from a meeting of central bankers later in the day in Jackson Hole.

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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.