What to watch for in the market tomorrow: impeachment, Fed, Micron

Here are the most important things to know about Thursday before you hit the door.

Markets are juggling the latest political turmoil of an official Democratic-lead impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, that could stall a potential trade deal with China and an already agreed-upon deal with Canada and Mexico.

Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is scheduled to testify to the House Intelligence Committee regarding the whistle blower complaint about Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian President at 9:00 a.m. ET. Maguire threatened to resign if the White House forced him to stonewall when he testifies Thursday, the Washington Post reported but Maguire denied in a statement that he ever considered that.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his conversation with Trump was normal and “nobody pushed” him, in a press conference on Wednesday.

We’ll get to hear from more Federal Reserve members on Thursday, including Fed vice chair Richard Clarida as markets try to gauge what the Fed members think of about how the latest political events could impact the U.S. economy. Last week, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for the second time since the financial crisis, but the divided Fed didn’t point to any more cuts this year. Clarida told CNBC last week the Fed is taking a “meeting-by-meeting” approach to setting interest rates.

Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard, San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly, and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin will also speak on Thursday. Bullard told CNBC on Wednesday that the Fed has a “little more to go.” 

Chip stock Micron will report after the bell. J.P. Morgan, which raised its price target for Micron to $65 from $60 last week, said it expects the company’s sales and earnings to top Micron’s prior forecast. “We believe the team is closing the cost gap with its major competitors,” said J.P. Morgan’s Harlan Sur in a note to clients.

Shares of Micron are up nearly 55% this year, even after being weighed down in May by the U.S.-China trade war.

“Despite macro/trade concerns, the demand environment is improving on inflecting cloud data center spending, strong gaming demand, and seasonal PC and smartphone demand,” said Sur.

Major events (all times ET):

8:30 a.m. Weekly jobless claims

8:30 a.m. Real GDP Q2 (third)

8:30 a.m. Advance economic indicators

9:00 a.m. Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire testifies to House Intelligence Committee

9:30 a.m. Dallas Fed’s Kaplan

10:00 a.m. St. Louis Fed’s Bullard

10:00 a.m. Pending home sales

11:45 a.m. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida

11:45 a.m. San Francisco Fed’s Daly

1:00 p.m. $32 billion 7-year note auction

2:00 p.m. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari

4:30 p.m. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin

Major earnings:

Rite Aid (Before the bell)

Carnival (Before the bell)

(Before the bell)

(Before the bell)

Micron (After the bell)

(After the bell)

Vail Resorts (After the bell)