NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Special counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate allegations of Russia's interference in the 2016 elections, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter.
COMMENTS:
CHRIS ZACCARELLI, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CORNERSTONE FINANCIAL PARTNERS, IN HUNTERSVILLE, NC
“To the extent that people are afraid something will happen to the presidency of the United States, whether that brings us closer to impeachment or serves as a further distraction for the administration, neither of those are good for the markets or a risk-on position.”
“It’s more distraction for the White House and less stability … It definitely was market moving. The timing lines up perfectly. The immediate drop was probably computer driven but people aren’t taking advantage of the dip.”
JUAN PEREZ, CURRENCY STRATEGIST, Monex INC, WASHINGTON DC:
“The world is paying attention and ultimately currencies are weighed to measure the stability of a country, whether you can have faith in what’s going on or not … I think with this investigation and the constant bombardment of news out of the White House the rest of the world is starting to see this image of somewhat of an unstable U.S., which is somewhat unprecedented. And now politics, even more than economic data, is really a driver of dollar weakness.”
“What’s really going to weigh heavily on the dollar for the remainder of the year is that as long as this investigation continues and there is a probe and the White House continues to work on everything except the economic agenda it’s going to weigh heavily on the dollar. The reaction was certainly immediate (to the news). Looking at it long-term, is this going to affect the dollar in a negative way? Absolutely it is.”
MARKET REACTION:
STOCKS: U.S. stocks extended losses, with the S&P falling around 0.2 percent after the news, then tracking back slightly.
BONDS: U.S. bond yields fell to session lows.
FOREX: The US dollar index fell around 0.17 percent in the minutes after the news, then tracked back slightly.
