Comes to all things particularly legal with the president. Shes now full time at the white house. And Major Garrett was formally chief white house correspondent. He now covers just about everything in washington as our chief correspondent in this town. Thank you all for being here. Nancy, youve had an incredibly busy end of year, and we may start 2020 with a trial, or will we . Will President Trump face a trial in the senate, and what will it look like . Act one is over. Act two is just beginning. We will definitely see a trial. I think it will happen in january. You know, nancy pelosi and Mitch Mcconnell have con this dance so often they could do it with their eyes closed. Its just that now theyre fighting over impeachment. Theyre staking out their positions early. She wants to know what this trial is going to look like, whether there will be witnesses before she sends the articles of impeachment over. He says he doesnt have to listen to what she has to say. Brennan so major, we begin
Nasdaq above 9000 for the first time. Ry lets get used to lets get you started with a quick check of how markets closed. It was a holiday shortened week, but we saw some markets adding to those gains, those record highs, so the s p 500 was led higher by consumer companies. Nordstrom, macys, jcpenney all advancing. Not to mention u. S. Jobless claims fell to a threeweek low. Today the biggest gainer after saying this Holiday Season was recordbreaking. That surpassed and closed above 9000 for the first time, but usp stocks under u. S. Stocks under a little pressure at the moment. Lets turn to sophie for what to watch. Sophie that post christmas lull. Low japanese futures nudging higher. Some green chips could top this, which snapped an eightday drop. In tokyo, we watch for reaction to a report that the president of three Japan Companies will step down following scandals in the insurance unit. We are also keeping an eye on retailers across the region after amazon reported a recordbreaking
We bring you todays market moving news from around the world. Our bloomberg voices are on the ground with this mornings top stories. We want to begin with china. The government has agreed to cut import tariffs on a wide range. F goods joining us is stephen engle. Break down what we know about the tariffs, why now, etc. Stephen this comes fresh after a trade one agreement a phase one trade agreement. A gesture, yes, to show its lowering trade barriers, but it also wants to spur domestic spending for those 859 products he mentioned, from smartphone parts to food, in particular, frozen pork. All of these products will enjoy lower tariffs, and it comes as china hosts a critical trilateral summit this week that has already kicked off in beijing between china and japan. South korea will also take part. Trade, territorial disputes, military maneuverings, of course, exacerbated by north thoses posturing, and all historical animosities still persist. So those talks should be welcome. Been korea
Educe the national debt. As always, well take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. Washington journal is next. Host good morning. It is 7 00 eastern time here in washington. The start of a holiday week. Congress returning in two weeks. President trump spending christmas with his family in florida. It is monday, december 23. We begin our first hour with Foreign Policy. The leaders of china, south korea and japan meeting today in beijing it. Comes as the pentagon and u. S. Officials are on, quote, high alert, after new threats over the weekend by north korea. In the past President Trump has said that he and president kim jong un fell in love. But since that comment back in february, talks have broken down. We want to get your reaction to these developments in north korea, what it means for the u. S. And for the region. 2027488001, thats our line for republicans. 2027488922 for democrats. 2027488002 if oure democrats. Or on twit or facebook. Good m
Timeline solidified for putting the max back into air, and get everything going again. Guy why now . Why not later, and why not earlier . George this is sort of the season where you see some of these changes happen. It seems like it was a little earlier than we thought it would happen. I personally think the faa timeline we got a couple weeks the pushing things into earliest midfebruary to get the max back into fleet, i think that had something to do with it. I think the star liner might have accelerated some of this. I think the star liner makes boeing look bad. It makes it look like things arent getting executed correctly at the company. Maybe that accelerated the change. Guy does this excel or at the process of getting the 737 max back into the air, though . George i dont think it shortens it at all. The risk we had is without boeing working for the faa, you extended that timeline, and i think they dont want to extend that timeline. To have a new face in the ceos chair and approache