Impeachment Vote, CPI, Stocks Stay Flat

The House of Representatives will impeach outgoing President Donald Trump on Wednesday. It will be for the second time, and it is only a week before his term expires.

The probability of a conviction in the Senate also appears to be rising. The number of Republican Senators turning on Trump is increasing after another incendiary interview on Tuesday. In the interview, he defended his incitement of last week’s violent attack on Capitol Hill. 

Reports said Mitch McConnell, the former Majority Leader, and the influential Liz Cheney are now open to voting to convict.

Dollar Eases after Strong Bond Auction

The dollar and 10-Year bond yields declined after strong interest at a Treasury auction on Tuesday. Also, Federal Reserve officials’ remarks pushed back against talk of tapering asset purchases later in the year.

It was too early to talk of reducing monetary stimulus, according to Kansas City Fed President Esther George. Eric Rosengren of Boston Fed refused to talk about tapering. 

Consumer inflation data is due at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT). 

Analysts anticipate the headline annual rate to tick up to 1.3%. This is still well below the U.S. central bank’s 2% target. 

The core CPI rate should stay at 1.6%, while the month-on-month might change to 0.4%.

More appearances from senior Federal Reserve officials are also coming up during the day. Lael Brainard’s is due at 2 PM ET and influential vice-president Richard Clarida’s is due at 4 PM. Sandwiched in between them is Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker.

Stocks Unchanged, Visa Abandons Plaid Bid

U.S. stocks might open mixed later, following a decidedly muted rebound on Tuesday. The brewing political fight in Washington overshadowed the session. 

Dow Jones futures, S&P 500 futures, and NASDAQ Futures were all essentially flat by 6:30 AM ET.

Data provider IHSMarkit is among the stocks that are likely to be in focus later. S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) and Visa (NYSE:V) are currently buying it. Late Tuesday, Visa has abandoned its planned acquisition of Plaid due to antitrust concerns.

Meanwhile, in energy commodities, the rally in crude oil slowed but remains intact. Data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday showed a steeper-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories. That is for the second week in a row.

Read also: CFDAdvanced review | Is it safe to trade with this broker?