US open: Dow goes red as Trump's long-time lawyer pleads guilty to campaign finance violations
Wall Street trading kicked off on a mixed note on Wednesday as Donald Trump suffered a double blow after his former campaign chief was found guilty of fraud and his former long-time lawyer pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.
At 1520 BST, the Dow Jones had lost 0.8% to 25,802.33 and the S&P 500 was down 0.09% to 2,860.55. The Nasdaq Composite on he other hand was trading 0.05% firmer at 7,826.86.
Trade talks between the US and China, set to begin in Washington later in the day, will see a delegation from Beijing meet with US officials to try and find a resolution to the escalating tariff war between the two countries.
Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Monday that he didn't expect much from the talks and that there was no time frame for an end to the trade war.
Meanwhile, concerns that Trump could be vulnerable to impeachment began to emerge after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws for the purpose of influencing the election. Cohen implicated the president in his testimony, swearing under oath that the President had told him to arrange payments to silence women alleged to have had affairs with him.
In addition, Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight fraud charges. He was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to report a foreign bank account.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "Cohen's plea, which puts the President under the spotlight even more, and opens him up to charges of criminal conduct, has raised concerns that he might be vulnerable to impeachment in the coming months.
"While this is unlikely in the short term, any shift in the balance of power after the mid-terms in November, could increase that prospect if the Republicans lose their majorities," added Hewson.
In corporate news, retailer Target was 5.79% higher in early trades after its second-quarter profit and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
Elsewhere, Navigators Group shot up 8.75% at the open after agreeing to be bought by the Hartford Financial Services Group for $2.1bn, or $70 a share - a premium of just under 9% to its closing price on Tuesday.
Mallinckrodt dipped 1.39% after it confirmed that the US Food and Drug Administration has rejected its new drug application for a treatment for newborn babies at risk of developing severe jaundice.
United Continental slid 0.57% after it named Gerry Laderman as its new chief financial officer, while Lowe's shot up 7.69% despite the retailer's second-quarter same-store sales missing expectations.
On the data front, existing home sales fell for the fourth consecutive month in July due to a shortage of properties on the market pushing up house prices and taking several potential buyers out of the mix.
Existing home sales fell 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34m units, according to The National Association of Realtors. Marking the longest streak of monthly declines since 2013.
Economists expected existing home sales to gain 0.6% to a rate of 5.40m units in July.
The latest FOMC minutes were still to come at 1900 BST.
Dean Popplewell, vice president of market analysis at Oanda, said: "It's unlikely that this afternoon's minutes will provide any new clues on how US interest rate policy is going to develop further. The Fed's implied rate path - two further rate rises in 2018 and probably two more in 2019 - is mostly priced in."