Stocks pare gains after FBI raid of Trump lawyer's office
U.S. stocks rose Monday, although the Dow pared its triple-digit gains on reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the office of President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 46.34 points, or 0.19%, to 23,979.10. The S&P 500 added 8.69 points, or 0.34%, to 2,613.15 points. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 35.23 points, or 0.51%, to 6,950.34.
The Dow had traded more than 200 points higher before a New York Times report that the FBI seized tax documents, emails and other records from Michael Cohen. The FBI also obtained communications between Trump and Cohen, his personal attorney. The report said investigators were looking for information related to a payment that Cohen made to an adult film actress, who claims she had an affair with Trump.
Technology stocks including Apple and Microsoft led the broader market higher. Gains in Boeing, Caterpillar and 3M shares had accounted for almost one-third of the Dow’s triple-digit rally.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday there was a risk of a trade war between the United States and China after the countries proposed imposing tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of one another's goods, but that he did not expect one.
"Our expectation is that we don't think there will be a trade war; our objective is to continue to have discussions with China ... I don't expect there will be a trade war -- it could be, but I don't expect it at all," he told CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, acknowledged that investors are concerned about the back-on-forth with China on trade policies, but he downplayed the likelihood of a full trade war.
“I don’t think there is any trade war in sight,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”
Meanwhile, investors will now turn their attention to corporate results. The end of the week will bring the start of earnings season for the big banks. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will all report quarterly results on Friday.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MON | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
| MMM | 3M CO. | 132.82 | -0.72 | -0.54% |
| BA | THE BOEING CO. | 156.58 | +0.93 | +0.60% |
| CAT | CATERPILLAR INC. | 402.63 | -3.93 | -0.97% |
Shares of Monsanto rallied about 6% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice will approve the company’s $60 billion sale to Bayer.
This week’s U.S. economic highlights will include a pair of inflation reports, producer prices (Tuesday), consumer prices (Wednesday) and the minutes of the last Fed meeting also on Wednesday.
Commodities were mostly higher on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.19% to $63.42 per barrel.
Ken Martin contributed to this report.