Trump positive Coronavirus test sends markets into turmoil
Just a month and a day before the hotly contested and anticipated US Presidential election, US President Donald Trump revealed that both he and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
Trump late yesterday had announced that he was going into quarantine after close advisor Hope Hicks tested positive. A subsequent test administered to President Trump then showed that he was positive as well.
Trump is not the first major world leader to test positive for Coronavirus, but certainly the most prominent. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson went through a rather nasty case of the disease which included hospitalization. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also tested positive for coronavirus and has since recovered.
On his well-followed Twitter account the President stated to his flock that “We will get through this TOGETHER!”
The markets did not take the news well, with US equity futures plunging. Dow futures are now off about 1.75%, or about 485 points, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures off similar percentages. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index, which was in the middle of its Friday trading session when the news broke, dropped by about a percent.
Nikkei 225 Index trading Friday, October 2, 2020.
Much of the trading action including market direction and volatility over the past few weeks had been taking its cue from US politics, with the key issues being who was strengthening in the polls – Trump vs. Joe Biden – as well as hopes for a deal between House Democrats and Republicans and the White House on an expanded government stimulus package.
Should be a few upcoming volatile trading days.