Stock futures point lower as political storm surrounds former Trump allies

Stocks may have a tough time advancing for a fifth session after a rough day for President Trump following Paul Manafort’s conviction and Michael Cohen’s guilty pleas.

Dow Jones futures were lower by 0.23%. The S&P 500 decline by 0.24% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.18%.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight charges including tax fraud, and the president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he violated campaign-finance law at President Trump’s direction.

U.S. stocks on Tuesday closed higher for the fourth consecutive day, and the broad-based S&P 500 index set an intraday record, as well as tying its record for longest bull run.

The S&P’s fresh record comes after second-quarter earnings season has basically wrapped up, while some easing trade tensions also supported the markets with China and the U.S. meeting to discuss trade after a tit-for-tat tariff exchange.

During the day's trading session, the S&P 500 topped its previous high of 2,872.87, which it reached in January. However, that index slipped back slightly before the markets closed.

Tuesday marked 3,452 days since the index fell to a low of 666 on March 9, 2009 -- widely seen as the low of the financial crisis -- tying its record for longest bull market run

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 63 to 25,822.29, the S&P 500 ended 5.91 higher to 2,862.96 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 38.17 to finish at 7,859.17.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	%Chg
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	25822.29	+63.60	+0.25%
SP500	S&P 500	2862.96	+5.91	+0.21%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	7859.173	+38.17	+0.49%

Wednesday’s earnings agenda includes retailers Target and Lowe’s.

On the economic front, traders will get the latest existing home sales figures as well as the minutes from the last Fed meeting.

In Europe, London’s FTSE was down 0.10%,  Germany’s DAX rose 0.22% and France’s CAC was higher by 0.17%.

In Asian markets, China’s Shanghai composite was down 0.7%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended the session up 0.65%.

Japan's Nikkei finished the day higher by 0.64%.

FOX Business' Mike Obel and Leia Klingel contributed to this article.