Morning Brief

Tech stocks are again leading futures lower

Key Points

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures were under pressure this morning with tech stocks leading the way lower after the Washington Post reported special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice. (CNBC & Washington Post)

The Dow was coming off another record close, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished lower on Wednesday after the Fed, as expected, raised interest rates by a quarter point. The Fed also laid out a plan to begin reducing its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. (CNBC)

The 10-year Treasury yield was steady this morning after falling to its lowest level since just after the election despite the Fed rate hike. Soft economic data was to blame. (CNBC Trading Nation)

It's a busy day for economic numbers, with jobless claims, import prices, the Empire State manufacturing index, and the Philadelphia Fed index all released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Industrial production comes at 9:15 a.m. ET. Homebuilder sentiment is out at 10 a.m. ET. (CNBC)

Oil prices dropped to six-week lows this morning, under pressure from high global inventories and doubts about OPEC's ability to implement the agreed upon extension of production cuts. U.S. crude sank 3.7 percent Wednesday, breaking a three-session win streak. (Reuters)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

Mueller's investigation of Trump for possible obstruction of justice began days after the president fired James Comey as FBI director and marks a major turning point in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)

* Senate overwhelmingly votes to impose new sanctions on Russia (Reuters)

Qatar said it signed a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets from the U.S. for $12 billion, despite the Gulf nation being criticized recently by Trump for supporting terrorism. Boeing (BA) is the prime contractor on the fighter jet sale. (Reuters)

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was among the wounded in a gunman's rampage at Wednesday morning's GOP congressional baseball practice, remained in critical condition after surgery. The shooter died from injuries sustained when he was taken into custody. (CNBC)

* Ballfield shooter volunteered for Bernie Sanders' campaign (WSJ)
* Republicans vs. Democrats charity baseball game will be played tonight (NY Times)

The death toll from Wednesday's London tower fire has risen to 17 people. Authorities said 37 other victims were getting treatment in hospital, with 17 of them still in critical condition. (Reuters)

Apple (AAPL) is working on turning the iPhone into a one-stop location for all of a user's medical information. CNBC has learned Apple has been in talks with developers, hospitals, and other industry groups about bringing clinical data to the device.

Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital firms, has placed a bet on a startup called Instabase, which has quietly been building a web service where data scientists and less technical users can work with data, CNBC has learned.

Wells Fargo (WFC) officials in its mortgage business were reportedly making unauthorized changes to home loans held by customers in bankruptcy, even as the bank was dealing with last year's sales practices. The changes lowered monthly payments but extended the terms. (NY Times)

Airline customer complaints jumped 70 percent in April following a series of recent high-profile scandals, including a man being dragged off a United flight in April. Congress may take up the issue of passenger rights when considering a bill to reauthorize the FAA. (CNBC)

* United apologizes after 2015 video shows worker shoving customer (NY Times)

STOCKS TO WATCH

Switzerland's central bank ordered UBS (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS) to draft credible plans for a potential insolvency but said both banks were on track to meet upgraded capital requirements.

Bank of America (BAC) is laying off more workers in its operations and technology unit, in a continuing effort to cut costs. The number of job losses was not specified.

AIG (AIG) has struck a deal with IBM (IBM) to use blockchain technology to create a so-called "smart" insurance policy. Blockchain, which powers Bitcoin, enables data sharing across a network of individual computers.

Amazon (AMZN) is interested in possibly buying workplace collaboration platform Slack, according to a Bloomberg report which puts Slack's value at $9 billion or more.

Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unit struck an agreement on the nature of future tax payments in Indonesia. Early this week, the two sides had resolved a dispute on Google's 2016 tax payments.

Western Digital (WDC) is seeking a court injunction to keep partner Toshiba from selling its chip business without Western Digital's consent. The two companies jointly operate Toshiba's primary chip plant in Japan.

WATERCOOLER

The U.S. Open tees off today at Erin Hills golf course in Wisconsin. Several players have been vocal about how tough the course is when a ball lands in the tall, fescue grass just off the fairway. Rory McIlroy offered a blunt rebuttal. (USA Today)

Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor have agreed to an August fight in Las Vegas. But it's going to be a boxing-centric match from the regulations to glove size to the length of rounds. (USA Today)