Stocks set to fall at the open
U.S. stocks are poised to open lower today, hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she will launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Pelosi’s move follows allegations that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a corruption investigation of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son.
The speaker said in a prepared statement that ‘the president must be held accountable’ and that ‘no one is above the law’. Trump blasted the impeachment inquiry on Twitter, calling it ‘witch hunt garbage’ and ‘presidential harassment’.
At around 5:50 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were down 56 points, or about 0.21% to 26,762. Futures on the broader S&P 500 dropped 7.87 points, or around 0.26% to 2,962.38 while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 indicated a decline of 32.37 points, or roughly 0.42% to 7,702.88.
UK Parliament reconvenes after historic supreme court ruling
Lawmakers in the United Kingdom resumed their work on Wednesday after the country’s Supreme Court overruled Prime Minister Boris Johnson’ attempt to block the MPs from debating Brexit by suspending Parliament until mid-October.
The prime minister flew back to London from New York early Wednesday, and is already facing calls to step down following the ruling. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Johnson had abused his powers and ought to apologize to Queen Elizabeth II for misleading her when asking for the suspension of parliament.
Johnson said he strongly disagreed with the judgement but respected the outcome. The British pound slumped 0.5% against the U.S. dollar to $1.2426 early Wednesday.
WeWork CEO Adam Neumann resigns amid pressure from investors and board members
WeWork’s embattled CEO Adam Neumann has stepped down after being asked to step aside by some board members and outside investors. Neumann, who co-founded the shared office space provider in 2010, will also relinquish significant control over the company.
Several media reports stated that Masayoshi Son, the founder of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which has invested about $50bn in WeWork, wanted him to quit as CEO after being mired by conflicts of interest. Neumann will take a new role as non-executive chairman, though it’s unclear if WeWork still plans to ahead with its IPO.
