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U.S. stocks open lower amid concerns over Trump

Xinhua, May 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday, as investors feared that turmoil in Washington would weigh on the market and U.S. President Donald Trump's reform agenda could be slowed down.

The White House on Tuesday pushed back against a new wave of media allegations that Trump might have tried to obstruct justice by asking then FBI Director James Comey to end a probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

"I hope you can let this go," Trump told Comey at the time, according to a New York Times report, quoting two people who read the memo Comey wrote shortly after meeting with Trump in the Oval Office one day after Flynn resigned over a Russia-related scandal in February.

Investors have been shocked by the news and worried Trump's ability to deliver on business-friendly policies.

U.S. stocks have posted solid gains since the presidential election, with the S&P and Nasdaq notching all-time highs earlier this week, in part because of the hope for tax reform plan.

Meanwhile, the first quarter earnings season has also been in focus. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 14.7 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 7.2 percent.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 157.94 points, or 0.75 percent, to 20,821.81. The S&P 500 lost 16.17 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,384.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 49.81 points, or 0.81 percent, to 6,120.06.

U.S. stocks wavered and traded in a narrow range on Tuesday, as Wall Street mainly digested Home Depot's better-than-expected quarterly results and newly-released economic data. Endi