U.S. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions to testify at 2:30 pm ET( 1830 GMT)

Trump team ties to Russia are back in focus today with Attorney-General Jeff Sessions set to testify for the Senate Intelligence Committee today.

The committee is investigating ties between Trump's team and Russia. Sessions himself has been under fire for undisclosed contacts with Russia. During the campaign he twice met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak despite telling the Senate during his January confirmation hearing that he "did not have communications with the Russians."

Even more intriguing is that last week, Comey suggested there were open questions about Sessions. He told the Senate that the FBI was "aware of facts" that would have made it "problematic" for Sessions to be involved in an investigation of Russia. This is rumored to be a third Russia meeting.

The AG had originally been scheduled to speak today at a different hearing on the Justice Dept budget but asked to speak publically because he "believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him."

Sessions isn't part of the Russia probe because he recused himself and Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel.

What markets are looking for

The number one thing that would roil markets would be evidence that Trumps team was coordinating with Russia and any unseemly way. That would be a bombshell and completely destabilize the government.

It's also extremely unlikely. At this point, there's no smoke, no fire, just some evidence that Trump's people met some Russia diplomats and weren't entirely forthcoming about it. There's also Trump's odd reluctance to criticize Putin. But that's all old news, at some point if there's no real evidence of wrongdoing, then the story will die.

What could rankle markets is the appearance of evasiveness. If Sessions refuses to answer questions or cites executive privilege it won't look good for the administration. There may be a perfectly good reason to do so but if he's especially cagey, it will look like he has something to hide.

On the other hand, he wanted to speak here so there's a better chance he's forthcoming and open. Don't forget that he's a career politician so he's not going to be intimidated or bullied. Given his long political experience, I expect he's also a masterful liar.

On net, I think Sessions is more likely to do Trump (and markets) a favor than causing any harm. USD/JPY could rise on his comments.