Wall Street is under pressure after the latest Trump crisis

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures were sharply lower this morning after reports that President Donald Trump allegedly asked former FBI Director James Comey to "let go" of the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. (CNBC)

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric who has Trump's ear, told CNBC an impeachment proceeding would 'blow the market away.'

The latest Trump controversy put pressure on the dollar index, which has erased gains since the election. Viewed as a safe-haven investment vehicles, the yen and gold rose to two-week highs, while U.S. Bond yields sank to two-week lows. (CNBC)

Bucking the trend of dismal earnings from the retail sector, Target (TGT) this morning reported quarterly profit and revenue that beat expectations. Dow component Cisco Systems (CSCO) leads the short list of after-the-bell earnings. (CNBC)

With U.S. economic data missing the market for weeks, the markets are no longer convinced the economy will be strong enough for the Fed to raise interest rates two more times this year. (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

Trump alleged request of Comey was detailed in a memo the former FBI director wrote after Flynn was fired in February. NBC News and other media outlets have not seen the memo, but were read parts of it by an associate of Comey.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, who recently said he won't seek re-election to Congress, asked the FBI for any records the agency has on communications between Comey and Trump. The president fired Comey last week. (CNBC)

Democrats immediately pounced on reports of the Comey memo, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying the country "is being tested in unprecedented ways … in a week full of revelation." Republican lawmakers had mixed reactions. (NBC News)

Buried in the New York Times report that broke the Comey memo story, Trump allegedly asked the former FBI director to consider imprisoning reporters for publishing classified information. It's worth noting that Trump often speaks in hyperbolic language.

Israel was the U.S. ally that collected the highly classified intelligence that Trump reportedly shared in a meeting with Russian officials last week, NBC News confirmed with three government officials with knowledge of the matter.

Chinese state media is criticizing the U.S. over cybersecurity in the wake of the WannaCry attack that started on Friday. The ransomware has been linked a North Korean-run hacking operation, which leveraged a tool built by the NSA. (Reuters)

(AMZN) is taking steps to break into the pharmacy market, according to two people familiar with the company's plans. They told CNBC that although this is not a certainty, Amazon is hiring people to formulate strategy for such a move.

In an answer to Facebook's (FB) Oculus, Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unit is expected to preview the latest version of its virtual reality headset at its annual developer conference this week. The VR device works without being connected to a smartphone or PC. (Variety)

An Elon Musk-backed artificial intelligence research firm called OpenAI has created a way for robots to learn tasks by giving them a demonstration in virtual reality. OpenAI, a nonprofit with about $1 billion in funding, is also backed by Peter Thiel. (CNBC)

McDonald's (MCD) food is now available in four more cities through Uber's UberEATS food delivery service. After being tested in a number of Florida cities, the service is now being offered in Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, and Columbus, Ohio. (Chicago Tribune)

With a record number of people flying around the world, airlines have made it tougher for frequent flyers to cash in their miles or points for a free flight. A new survey found frequent flyer seats available on 72.4 percent of the flights, down a bit from last year. (CNBC)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Urban Outfitters (URBN), like many other retailers, missed estimates with earnings and revenue in its latest quarter. Same store sales fell a greater than expected 3.1 percent.

Jack In The Box (JACK) on the quarter beat on earnings and match estimates on revenue. The company is also considering a spinoff of its Qdoba Mexican restaurant chain.

Red Robin (RRGB) exceeded estimates on quarterly earnings and revenue. The burger chain also issued a rosier full-year outlook. Same store sales at company-owned locations fell a smaller than expected 1.2 percent.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is being accused by Massachusetts regulators of providing nearly $1 million in unlawful giveaways to businesses as an incentive to push the company's Budweiser brand.

Insurer UnitedHealth Group (UNH), a Dow component, was sued by the Justice Department, accused of taking more than $1 billion from Medicare that it was not entitled to receive.

WATERCOOLER

A pair of pear-shaped, diamond earrings, one blue in color and the other pink, sold for a whopping $57.4 million, setting a new record. Sotheby's had been auctioning them separately, but one bidder bought both of them. (CNBC)