U.S. stock futures, dollar fall on rising concerns over Trump

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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets-idUSKCN18D01B

U.S. share futures and the dollar tumbled on Wednesday on worries about more U.S. political turmoil after media reports said President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end a probe into Trump's former national security advisor.

The reports raised questions over whether obstruction of justice charges could be laid against Trump, weakening confidence in the U.S. president's ability to push through an aggressive stimulus program that investors had been banking on since his election in November.

S&P 500 mini futures, the world's most liquid stock futures, dropped 0.5 percent to 2,385, though they have managed to hold above their recent lows around 2,379.

European shares are expected to open lower, with spread-betters looking at declines of 0.6 percent for Germany's DAX, 0.4 percent in France's CAC and 0.2 percent for Britain's FTSE.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.3 percent while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.5 percent.

Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading, wrote in a note that "Rising doubts about U.S. political leadership should fuel further rotation into Europe. The situation remains fluid, but this development should finally break the financial markets out of the volatility vacuum."

Nobuhiko Kuramochi, chief strategist at Mizuho Securities, said "worries about European politics and North Korea have receded... But now we have worries about the Trump Administration. Given that there are some stock indexes that have risen more than 10 percent so far this year, we may be entering a consolidation phase."