In 2020’s latest M. Night Shyamalanian twist, Donald Trump revealed that he and Melania have tested positive for covid-19.
Tomorrow marks one month to the day until the US election. And one of the candidates has caught coronavirus. With the diagnosis coming mere days after he shared a stage – admittedly a socially-distanced stage – with the other candidate. And both men are firmly in their seventies.
It’s so mad it is borderline predictable in this cursed year. And, from a market perspective, it’s sent a ripple of concern through trading floors – which at the moment are essentially just people’s homes – as investors mull over what this means for the election and overall stability in the US.
The impact this might have on a new covid-19 relief plan is one of the major worries for investors. House Democrats passed their own $2.2 trillion package last night, which is meaningless without an agreement being reached between Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. And with Republicans still firmly opposed to the Democrats’ plans, any political lockdown due to Trump’s diagnosis – and all the unmasked people he has come in contact with – could prove to be fatal to the progress of the much-needed stimulus package.
Europe was pretty uniform in its retreats. With Brent Crude tumbling 3%, and BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) dropping 2% and 1.3% respectively, the FTSE lost 0.8%, shrinking back to a near one-month low of 5830.
The DAX and CAC, meanwhile, both shed 0.7%, causing the German index to dip under 12625, and its French cousin to slip to 4780.
As for the Dow Jones, it is looking at a hefty 340 point fall when trading gets underway, sending it the wrong side of 27500.
It’s the kind of decline that could accelerate losses in Europe – unless a blockbuster nonfarm jobs report can distract investors from their worries.
That might be a long shot, however. Analysts are expecting the headline figure to come in at 900k, but at least with the unemployment rate contracting to 8.2%, and wage growth rising from 0.4% to 0.5%.
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