The White House faced yet another shake up on Monday as President Donald Trump effectively fired his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, who served in his official capacity for only 10 days. Sources have cited that Scaramucci’s departure resulted from the appointment of General John Kelly as Trump’s new chief of staff. According to Reuters, Kelly called Scaramucci into his office and fired him instantly as one of his first acts as chief of staff. Despite this additional setback for Trump’s advisory staff, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at record highs on Monday. The S&P 500 index and the NASDAQ closed modestly lower, showing no signs of being impacted by Scaramucci’s departure. Instead, earnings proved to be the most important factor influencing markets on Monday and likely on Tuesday as well.
Asian markets opened higher, with most of the major indices posting delicate gains in early trading hours. Australia’s ASX 200, Shanghai’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were all higher as of 9:51 a.m. HK/SIN.
The dollar was up against most of its primary trading partners early on Tuesday. The dollar was at 110.29 yen, up 0.04 percent. The greenback also gained 0.12 percent against the loonie and 0.06 percent against the Swiss franc.
What to Watch on Tuesday
On Tuesday traders have a lot of data to digest, starting with China’s manufacturing survey followed by estimated GDP reports from Europe and U.S. spending and manufacturing data which will be out just after noon EST. Traders will also be cautious following the announcement of a potential sanction against Venezuela’s oil sector which may, in fact, be a sanction only against the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. Brent futures were up 0.19 percent to $52.82 per barrel and U.S. WTI crude futures were up $0.20 to $50.27 per barrel, both staying fairly safely above the critical $50 level.