Stocks fell in overnight trading Sunday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed the Trump administration had opened a criminal investigation into the central bank.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 200 points shortly after 8:30 p.m. EST, falling 0.4 percent. S&P 500 futures were down 0.5 percent and Nasdaq futures were down 0.7 percent.
The slide came after Powell announced in a stunning statement that he and the Fed were under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had issued subpoenas to bank officials Friday night and had threatened a criminal indictment.
Powell said the investigation focused on the Fed’s renovations to several buildings at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, and his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in June about the matter.
The Fed chair, however, dismissed those concerns as “pretexts” to pressure the bank over its interest rate policy.