Markets Slide Following Healthcare Failure and More in Politics Today

It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:

1. Dow closes down for eighth straight day as ‘Trump trade’ deflates

U.S. stocks overcame steep losses Monday but the Dow industrials and S&P 500 still closed lower as investors reassessed the prospects for President Donald Trump’s ambitious economic agenda after a Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare was scrapped last week

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.22% marked its longest losing streak since August 2011 with eight straight declines, closing down 45.74 points Monday, or 0.2%, at 20,550.98, after overcoming an earlier 184-point deficit. The blue-chip average was led lower by shares of Chevron Corp. CVX, -1.58% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, -1.28%

The S&P 500 SPX, -0.10% slid 2.39 points, or 0.1%, to close at 2,341.59, as seven out of 11 sectors finished lower. Telecom and financial shares led decliners, while health-care and materials stocks led advancers. The benchmark index has finished down seven out of the past eight sessions. Earlier in the session, the equity gauge had been down by as many as 22 points.

Read more at Marketwatch.

2. House Intel Chair met with source of Trump monitoring claim on White House grounds day before revealing it

The California Republican confirmed to CNN in a phone interview Monday he was on the White House grounds that day -- but he said he was not in the White House itself. (Other buildings, including the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, are on the same grounds.)

Some Democrats have said Nunes' actions mean he can't conduct an impartial investigation into potential Trump-Russia ties, though House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday he has "full confidence" Nunes can oversee the probe.

Read more at CNN.

3. Democrats force one-week delay in Gorsuch nomination committee vote

Democrats in the Senate on Monday forced a one-week delay in a committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch of Colorado.

Democrats requested a postponement in the vote as expected, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The committee vote on Gorsuch, who sits on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and lives in Boulder, will be held April 3.

Read more at Fox.

4. Push for Internet Privacy Rules Moves to Statehouses

Now that Republicans are in charge, the federal government is poised to roll back regulations limiting access to consumers’ online data. States have other ideas.

Should they be passed into law, these rules could end up guiding the rights of consumers far beyond Illinois — because they would provide a model for other states, and because it would be difficult for technology companies with hundreds of millions of users to create a patchwork of state- and country-specific features to localize their effects.

Read more at The New York Times.

5. ICE quietly updates rule to make it easier to detain even more immigrants

Immigration officials have issued a new "detainer form" that could sweep up even more undocumented immigrants into the Trump administration’s deportation force.

The previous detainer policy recommended ICE officials issue detainers when an undocumented immigrant had a prior conviction, like a felony, three or more misdemeanor convictions, or had been caught illegally re-entering the U.S. after being deported.

The new detainer policy, set to go into effect April 2, 2017, includes no detailed guidance, which means ICE could send local police a detainer for any "subject" they believe “is removable from the United States.”

Read more at Fusion.

— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Public Domain)