Stocks tumble after Supreme Court rules Trump must hand over tax returns
The court ruled that the President has to hand over his financial documents and tax returns to the New York district attorney, though that’s unlikely to happen before the US election.
The stock market has been extremely volatile in the past several months during the coronavirus pandemic. Although it’s unclear whether investors view the Supreme Court’s ruling as a positive or negative for President Trump, it adds uncertainty into an already murky future.
Stocks were mixed ahead of the ruling, but dropped firmly into negative territory after its release.
The Dow (INDU) fell 1.9%, or some 480 points, in the late morning, while the broader S&P 500 (SPX) dropped 1.5%.
The Nasdaq (COMP), which was on track for an all-time high at the start of the trading day, fell 0.8%.
For a long time during this term, Trump was considered a relatively market-friendly candidate, not least because of his promises of a massive infrastructure bill and now because of unprecedented fiscal stimulus to get the economy through the pandemic recession.
But market experts have changed their tune of late as former Vice President Joe Biden is pulling ahead in the polls for the November presidential election.
JPMorgan (JPM) is even predicting that a Democratic sweep in the fall could help stocks further because Biden’s moderate policies would help the weakened economy. Potentially higher taxes would likely also be offset by fewer trade tariffs.
Biden will speak on his economic agenda this afternoon, including his plan to spur manufacturing and create new jobs on top of bringing those lost to the pandemic back.
Matt Egan and Eric Bradner contributed to this report.