Wall Street regains footing as Ukraine braces for full-scale Russian invasion
CBSN
Stocks were up Wednesday morning, recovering from jitters the day before over Western sanctions on Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin's authorization to send soldiers into eastern Ukraine.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 9:45 Eastern Time, rebounding from its brief fall into correction territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1%.
Oil prices dipped slightly following increases stoked by unease about possible disruption to Russian supplies.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.