18 August, 2017
The index started slipping earlier on fears that Gary Cohn, a business friendly advisor to the President, could resign his role as director of National Economic Council because of Trump's remarks following the violent protests in Charlottesville, VA.
If White House economic adviser Gary Cohn resigned his position, it would cause markets to crash, according to Yale School of Management expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.
US President Donald Trump says CEOs are leaving his manufacturing council "out of embarrassment" for making products outside of the US.
United States stocks have dropped as investors worry what the political turmoil surrounding President Donald Trump means for his economic agenda.
Spain mounted a sweeping anti-terror operation on Friday after the suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds on a popular tourist thoroughfare in Barcelona, killing 13 people before fleeing, in what police suspect was one of multiple planned attacks.
Asian markets are playing catch-up to the moves seen in U.S. markets on Thursday, Horchani said, adding that the risk-averse sentiment could prove short-lived, given the news that Cohn will stay in his post.
USA equity markets appeared poised for a broadly weaker open, futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes showed, though futures on the Nasdaq tech benchmark were up 0.13 percent.
The ECB news came a day after Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed some policymakers cautioning against rate increases while US inflation remained weak.
"Heightened policy uncertainty may not be conducive to the investment climate and the same moment the Fed raises the decibel of its warning about asset prices", Chandler said, referring to recent Federal Reserve comments on USA share valuations.
Cohn has tried to steer his aides away from Washington politics and focus them instead on getting results, even if they come slowly, or not at all.
All 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with technology index's 1.17 percent fall topping the list.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange's volatility index jumped 32 per cent to 15.55 and stocks on Wall Street dropped as investors scaled back their bets on risk-sensitive assets.
All this took MSCI's world index, which tracks shares in 46 countries, down 0.3 percent to one-week lows.
Cisco fell 4.12 percent after reporting a revenue miss in its closely-watched security business.
Fertilizer company Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc declined 0.9 per cent to $22.11, and diversified miner Teck Resources Ltd fell 1.2 per cent to $29.40. Shares of Under Armour fell 2.04 percent. The tech heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1.9 percent.
Rather than a single catalyst, a range of worries prompted investors to take profits, including the tense US relationship with North Korea, the Barcelona attack and domestic turmoil.