The US stock markets closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the day at 42,320 points, a decline of 0.3 percent from the previous trading day. The S&P 500, a broader market index, fell by 0.5 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.8 percent.
Tesla’s stock price suffered the most, declining by around 4 percent, amid a controversy surrounding the company’s CEO, Elon Musk and the US President, Donald Trump. The dispute began when a former government advisor, a critic of Trump’s tax plan, publicly denounced it as “atrocious.” In response, Trump questioned the government’s contracts with Musk and suggested that ending the CEO’s state-backed subsidies and agreements could save the government billions of dollars.
Musk responded by leveling serious accusations against Trump, linking them to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Trump then tweeted that he had no issue with Musk’s criticism, but that it should have come earlier, “months ago.”
Meanwhile, the euro strengthened against the US dollar, with one euro exchanging for 1.1443 US dollars and one dollar for 0.8739 euros. The gold price, however, weakened, with one ounce of gold selling for 3,356 US dollars, a decrease of 0.6 percent, or 94.30 euros per gram.
The price of oil, on the other hand, rose, with a barrel of Brent crude selling for 65.30 US dollars, a 0.7 percent increase from the previous day’s close.