Stocks fall further after reports of Rosenstein resignation

U.S. stocks fell Monday following reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had resigned. Axios first reported news of Rosenstein’s verbal resignation, which came following a report last week that Rosenstein had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment in order to remove President Donald Trump from office.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.5%, or 15 points, at 10:55 a.m. Monday, while the Dow (^DJI) fell 0.54%, or 144.6 points. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) was down 0.47%, or 37.5 points.

The U.S. market had opened lower Monday after China canceled plans to hold further trade talks with the Trump administration following the launch of the latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 posted record highs last week despite the Trump administration’s announcement early last week of a 10% tax on $200 billion in Chinese imports, which took effect Monday. China retaliated with taxes on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. Some analysts said that the U.S. equity market’s initial rally may validate the Trump administration’s escalation tactics, encouraging it to intensify other geopolitical strategies beyond China.

One “concern,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note Friday, “is that U.S. economic and equity market resilience despite tariffs will embolden the President on all geopolitical fronts – autos, NAFTA and particularly Iran – and thus risk a major miscalculation from sanctions that are tough to calibrate.”

STOCKS: M&A leads the day

Comcast (CMCSA) won out over Fox (FOX) with an about $40 billion bid for the European television company Sky (SKY.L) over the weekend. Shares of Sky jumped 9% following the news. Comcast, whose shares fell about 5% to $35.90 per share at market open Monday, must still earn approval from more than 50% of Sky’s shareholders to complete the deal. Fox, in tandem with Disney (DIS), already has a 39% stake in Sky, although some analysts believe this will likely be sold to Comcast.

Source: Finance Yahoo

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