US Politics Heats Up, Dow Jones Plunges 373 Points

The heated political climate in the United States triggered a fall in stock prices on American exchanges. Investor uncertainty regarding the planned US tax cuts, following President Donald Trump's attempt to intervene in the investigation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, fueled the sell-off. On May 17, 2017, local time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 372.82 points (1.78 percent) from the previous day's close. This was the largest point drop since September 12, 2016.

Despite the significant drop of over 300 points, the Dow Jones index still recorded a 4.2 percent increase compared to its year-end 2016 position of 19,762.6. The Dow Jones even reached a record high of 21,115.55 on March 1, 2017.

The fall in US stock prices impacted Asian markets this morning. According to Bloomberg data, as of 9:25 WIB (Western Indonesian Time) on May 18, 2017, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index fell 1.65 percent to 19,487.39, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index slipped 0.41 percent to 25,189.29, and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index also decreased by 1.2 percent to 5,716.7. Similarly, the Chinese Shanghai Composite index fell 0.26 percent to 3,096.24, the Singapore Straits Times index dropped 0.35 percent to 3,212.74, and the Indonesian IHSG (Jakarta Composite Index) also fell 0.28 percent to 5,599.73.