Wall Street futures cautious ahead of Trump impeachment
U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Wednesday as market participants turned their attention to the Trump impeachment. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives will meet today to debate and hold a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Democrats have accused Trump of trying to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to begin a probe of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in exchange for crucial military and strategic support to combat Russian military aggression.
Trump has repeatedly denied the accusations and called the impeachment process a “hoax.” The Republican-controlled Senate will take up the case, once the House votes to impeach him as it has indicated. A two-thirds majority vote is required to impeach a U.S. president in a Senate trial.
As of 5:05 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were down 25.5 points, or 0.09% to 28,309.5 while S&P 500 rose 3.38 points, or 0.11% to 3,198.88. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched 9.75 points, or 0.11% higher to 8,615.
Lighthizer says U.S. may hike tariffs on EU imports
Elsewhere, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Fox Business Network on Tuesday that the Trump administration may raise tariffs on European Union imports to reduce America’s trade imbalance with the bloc.
“We’ve put tariffs in place on a variety of products, and we’re going to continue to focus on that. It’s something the president cares about. You can’t get the global trade deficit down without getting the trade deficit down with Europe,” Lighthizer said.
His comments come just days after the U.S. and China reached an agreement on their phase-one trade deal, though it is still unclear exactly what is in the deal.
FedEx stock tumbles after profit warning, cuts
Meanwhile, shares of FedEx (NYSE: FDX) fell more than 6% in the premarket session Wednesday after the shipping and logistics titan missed second-quarter profit expectations, and warned about lower fiscal 2020 adjusted earnings.
FedEx posted second-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.51 a share. Revenue came in at $17.3 billion, down from $17.8 billion in the same period last year.
Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of $2.76 per share on revenue of $17.58 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
The company trimmed its full-year profit outlook, saying it forecasts adjusted earnings of between $10.25 and $11.50 a share compared with its previous guidance of $10 to $11.50 a share. Analysts on Wall Street had expected adjusted full-year EPS of $12.03 per share.
“Fiscal 2020 is a year of continued significant challenges and changes for FedEx, particularly in the quarter just ended due to the compressed shipping season,” said FedEx CEO in the company’s earnings statement.
Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot agree to merge
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE: FCAU) and Peugeot maker Groupe PSA will form the third largest by revenue and the fourth largest global automaker by volume after they agreed on a binding merger in a $50 billion deal.
The two automakers announced they had signed a binding combination agreement that will create an industry leader ability to invest in new technologies. Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders of each company would own 50% in the new company.
