Wall Street stocks fell further Wednesday afternoon on deepening worries about President Donald Trump’s economic agenda following a series of scandals and stumbles.
Near 1900 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 300 points, or 1.6 percent, at 20,654.56.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.6 percent to 2,362.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.3 percent to 6,030.79.
The losses followed reports that Trump asked former FBI chief James Comey to stop a probe into ex-national security advisor Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russia — a request which commentators said could amount to obstruction of justice.
The Comey revelations came on the heels of widespread criticism of Trump for allegedly disclosing highly sensitive intelligence to Russian officials last week.
Analysts noted that US stocks remained near all-time highs after a strong run of corporate earnings. But they said worries about the prospects of tax cuts and other growth-spurring components of the Trump agenda prompted a wave of selling.
“The underlying concern isn’t so much ‘are stocks priced too rich here?'” said Victor Jones, director of trading at TD Ameritrade. “The concern for clients is the ability to drive that tax agenda.”
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