Gary Cohn stays on as White House chief economic adviser

On Thursday, a spokesman for the oval office denied rumours that National Economic Council director, Gary Cohn would be stepping down as a result of the President's controversial comments about the "very fine" people protesting alongside neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.

Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive, established the Cohn Jewish Student Centre on the campus of Kent State University in 2009, was said to have been offended by Trump's comments.

The White House official denied reports, saying, "Nothing has changed. Gary is focused on his responsibilities as NEC Director and any reports to the contrary are 100% false."

How long he will remain in the job was unclear as Cohn had recently been pegged as a leading candidate for the Federal Reserve chairman vacancy.

The Dow began to drop on Thursday as reports that the ex-Wall Street man was planning to resign started to circulate.