The opening of an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump is a political story with financial implications. How will the volatile investigation affect your pocketbook—and the American economy in general?
The first clues emerged Tuesday when U.S. stock markets suffered losses in the hours before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the commencement of a formal impeachment inquiry. On Wednesday, the markets rebounded despite the release of the transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he asked for an investigation of the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden—an act that set off the impeachment inquiry.
Trump could be the third U.S. president to face impeachment. In 2007, when President Bill Clinton was impeached during a booming economy, the markets soared. The opposite was true when Richard Nixon resigned from office in order to avoid impeachment in the 1974: Markets tumbled as several factors combined to a slowing economy.
