In a Tuesday statement, the press secretary said the president “terminated and removed” Comey from office “based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.” Sessions told Trump in a letter that he believes “a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the FBI.” In a memorandum titled “Restoring public confidence in the FBI,” Rosenstein said he couldn’t defend Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

By 0752 GMT, though, the strong risk appetite that has dominated global markets this week appeared to be returning, and the dollar edged back above 114 yen, close to the previous day’s high of 114.325. The Swiss franc, another safe-haven currency, fell to its lowest in seven months on Tuesday and stayed close to that at 1.09575 francs per euro, flat on the day. Commerzbank currency strategist Esther Reichelt, in Frankfurt, though, said risk appetite could only drive the currency market so far be

Gold edged off the previous day’s eight-week low on Wednesday as U.S. President Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI chief James Comey hit share markets, but expectations of further U.S. interest rate hikes capped gains by the metal. European stocks retreated from 21-month highs and the dollar initially slipped on concerns that Trump’s dismissal of his FBI chief could make it harder for him to push through his tax reform plans. Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,224.58 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude inventories, but concerns about rising output from the United States, Libya and Nigeria weighed on markets. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.8 million barrels last week, more than the 1.8 million-barrel slide analysts predicted. U.S. crude oil inventories fell 5.8 million barrels last week, above analysts’ expectations for a 1.8 million barrel decline, accord

Official results reflected that Moon, a candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, had won 41.1 percent of the vote, according to Reuters. Moon will take on the presidency after the ouster of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Political developments in the U.S. are also likely to weigh as FBI Director James Comey was fired by U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 0.29 percent or 57.09 points higher at 19,900.09 while the Kospi fell 0.99

A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day. STOCKS/ECONOMY-Stock futures are up after Monday’s flat close. It’s another day filled with key earnings reports, including Disney and News Corp.-The price of bitcoin has jumped to $1,700 and its market cap is up $1 billion in just the last 24 hours. THE TRUMP TRADE-Reports say that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to convince the president to remain in N

BMO Capital Markets lowered its rating for Cisco to market perform from outperform, citing increasing competition for the company’s network router and switching products. “We expect Cisco to continue to face competitive and secular challenges in its core switching and routing markets,” analyst Tim Long wrote in a note to clients Monday. “We believe some of the challenges Cisco faces will stay in focus until recurring revenues are bigger. Share losses in switching and a struggling router market h

A day after the French presidential election, Davide Serra shared his views on investing in Europe in an exclusive CNBC PRO interview with Leslie Picker. “We’re bullish on Europe, and most importantly we’re bullish in Europe across financials,” said Serra, founder, CEO and CIO of Algebris Investments. He was speaking on the sidelines of the Sohn Investment Conference, presented by CNBC. Serra discussed:How investors should think about populism. The interview is exclusively for CNBC PRO subscribe

Italy’s flagship airline has re-entered administration for the second time in a decade, with liabilities three times greater than its assets at the latest reckoning. But few observers of either Italy’s political sphere or Europe’s aviation sector will be expressing much surprise. That’s because one of the company’s few consistent achievements in recent years has been its ability to lose vast amounts of money. For the first time last summer, Ryanair surpassed Alitalia’s seat capacity out of Itali

A woman who accused former Fox News presenter Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment in the United States called on Britain on Monday to block Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch from taking full control of Britain’s pay-TV group Sky. Wendy Walsh, a former regular guest on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor” TV show who made the claim against O’Reilly last month, met officials at the British media regulator Ofcom on Monday with her lawyer Lisa Bloom, a representative said. Ofcom declined to comment on the visit. The

The state of California just awarded a $500 million deal to Wells Fargo Bank, perhaps a sign the state is ready to move past the sanctions it slapped on the bank last year. CNBC has reached out to Wells Fargo for comment. Treasurer John Chiang — the state’s top banker — has been critical of Wells Fargo previously for setting up fake accounts without the permission of customers. Tim Schaefer, deputy treasurer for public finance at the Treasurer’s office, said in a telephone interview Monday the d

Our live blog is tracking reaction after Elliott Advisors, a top 5 shareholder of Akzo Nobel, condemns the paint maker for rejecting PPG’s third proposal. We’ll bring you the latest analysis below.

Oil prices pared gains on Tuesday as a relentless rise in U.S. crude output activity appeared to cap the impact of renewed hopes that OPEC-led supply cuts could be extended. Commerzbank reported a 28 percent increase in net earnings for the first three months of the year on Tuesday. Germany’s second-largest lender beat analyst expectations and said it would aim to keep its base costs stable throughout the year. Elsewhere, South Korea held presidential elections on Tuesday following the dismissal

Uber faces an investigation of sexism, allegations of intellectual property theft and accusations of evading authorities — but one investor said he’s still betting on them through the “hiccups.” “We’ve been investing in technology companies like Uber for 15 years,” Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital, told CNBC’s “Fast Money: Halftime Report” on Monday. “And when I look over that history, there’s always volatility in high-growth companies, and it’s hard for management to scale these comp

The Chinese are returning the compliment by praising the German advocacy of a free-trade platform for the next G20 meeting. Keep America’s deficits downNone of this should come as a surprise to those advising the U.S. president. That’s guaranteed: The EU and East Asia – which account for more than 80 percent of America’s trade deficit — continue to rely on their export-driven growth models. Smart diplomacy – the Churchillian “jaw-jaw” – should help to scale back America’s unbearably expensive,

You want to get out at 100, but the stock is locked limit down at 100 and your order is not filled. The reverse applies in a rising market as buyers bid higher to get stock before it locks limit up. In a falling market the options are to sell quickly – adding to the cascade effect of selling. The final factor is the lack of derivative markets which can be sued to hedge a falling market. This leaves investors with few alternatives in a falling market.

I really wanted to travel,” he said on his decision to quit with little plans of what would come next. But unlike most stories where he might do his traveling and then land in another corporate job or launch his own startup, his company called him again. This time, offering him a job to help change the corporate culture typically associated with accounting firms. Nosibor was offered the newly made role of innovation evangelist, where he would be an advocate for change and disruption among its he

With investors worried about the fate of casino stocks in light of new Chinese government regulations on ATMs in Macau, Jim Cramer vetted three gaming names to see how they might hold. “I don’t want to overreact in either direction, but the truth is I’m actually not particularly concerned,” the “Mad Money” host said. Chinese policymakers’ most recent move targets illegal foreign exchange activity, and even though less money withdrawn means less money for casinos, Cramer said concerns were overbl

Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed:Camping World Holdings: “They had a good quarter. I’ve gone over that quarter time and again, and it just was good. I know a lot of people say, ‘Jim, you really like it.’ I don’t think there’s room. FireEye: “You know what, that was a good quarter.

Cramer explains how Coach and Sinclair’s takeovers help US value stocks 7 Hours Ago | 07:32″More important, from the point of view of the overall market valuation, Sinclair’s stock initially jumped 3 percent on the news, even as it ultimately pulled back and ended up slightly in the red, while Coach’s stock jumped 4.8 percent. The “Mad Money” host attributed Sinclair’s uptick to relaxed consolidation rules implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in April. Cramer said the change allo