… US Shares Set to drop after Trump test positive
From Tinuola Ajiboye, Abuja, Nigeria
President Trump and Wife, Melania
The President of the United States President, Donald Trump has confirmed that he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus.
The President made this known in a statement via his Twitter handle, adding that they had began self isolation since Thursday when a close staff and adviser to President Trump, Hicks, was detected to have contracted the virus.
In a letter, President Trump’s physician said he and the first lady “are both well at this time” and “plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.”
“Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments,” presidential physician Sean Conley wrote, noting that he would “maintain a vigilant watch” along with the White House medical team.
The sudden news came just a few hours after the president confirmed that Hope Hicks, one of his closest confidantes, had tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling with him multiple times in the past week.
According to reports, she flew with the commander in chief to campaign rallies in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, as well as to Tuesday’s presidential debate in Ohio, and she was seen in photos both with and without a face covering.
A rally that was however scheduled for Friday in Florida has been canceled after Trump’s positive test result, and has raised the question of whether the diagnosis will derail the president’s campaign just 32 days before Election Day on Nov. 3, 2020.
According to health guidelines, President Trump, 74, and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, 77, are considered to be in the high-risk category for the virus.
News of the president’s Covid-19 diagnosis, just a month before the election, has rattled the US stock markets, which are expected to open sharply lower when trading begins on Friday.
Stock market futures show that all three of America’s main indexes – the Dow Jones, the S&P and the Nasdaq – are set to drop by at least 1.5% each.
The Dow Jones could drop by nearly 500 points, the technology-heavy Nasdaq is set to tumble by 2% while the S&P 500 is on course to fall 1.7%.
“It is prime time now for [the] US election,” said Jingyi Pan, a senior market strategist at IG Group. “Should the president be absent during this period, that could mean even more complications with the election.”
