Stocks higher as investors don’t seem to care about impeachment

A Presidential impeachment? Who cares!!!

At least that’s what stocks are telling us.

Yesterday, stocks dropped on concerns of a possible impeachment inquiry by Democrats.

And as expected, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry against the President last night.

But after a small dip in early trading, stocks shook off impeachment concerns and rallied.

New Home Sales data helped with today’s rally. Sales came in better than expected, with one of the best readings since 2007.

And President Trump helped change the mood as well, saying that a trade deal could come sooner than expected.

There was also the White House releasing an unredacted memorandum of the call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy.

The call does show that Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. But it didn’t reveal a direct “you help me and I’ll send aid your way” connection. The White House is hoping that the release of the transcript turns the story into a “nothing burger.” And at least for today, the focus on trade helped calm some of the impeachment worries.

Here’s where the major indices ended the day:

• The S&P finished with a 0.6% gain. Up 18 points, the S&P ended at 2,985.
• The DOW ended higher by 0.6%. Adding 163 points, the DOW closed at 26,971.
• The NASDAQ was up 1.1%. With an 84 point gain, the NASDAQ finished at 8,077.

Crude Oil (CL) finished lower for the 2nd day in a row. With a 1.3% loss, CL ended at $56.55 a barrel.

Nike (NKE) was up nicely after an earnings beat. The stock finished higher by 4.2%.

Cintas (CTAS) was an earnings winner as well, up 5.7% after reporting better than expected numbers.