The Dow shrugged off Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis on Friday after an initial slump, and was just 100 points beneath Thursday’s close by lunchtime.
Trump announced his diagnosis at 12.54am on Twitter.
Wall Street’s main indexes tumbled at the open on Friday with the Dow dropping 280 points after President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 weeks before the election.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.51 points, or 1.01 percent, at the open to 27,536.39. The S&P 500 opened lower by 41.86 points, or 1.24 percent, at 3,338.94, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 243.98 points, or 2.15 percent, to 11,082.53 at the opening bell.
But by 2pm on Friday, the Dow had recovered to just 100 points beneath Thursday’s close.
The Dow had mostly recovered on Friday after an initial slump when Trump tweeted his diagnosis
The US stock index futures dropped immediately after Trump tweeted news of his positive COVID-19 test results on Thursday evening after Wall Street had closed.
His tweet came just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with Trump several times this week.
Traders sold riskier investments like tech stocks and shifted money into less volatile assets, like US government bonds.
A report showing another slowdown of hiring by US employers last month did little to brighten the mood.
The positive test reading for the leader of the world’s largest economy heaps uncertainty onto a growing pile of unknowns investors are grappling with, first among them how it might affect the November 3 election and American policies on trade, tariffs and many other issues beyond then.
Global equities also dropped following the news, sparking fresh political chaos in the world’s biggest economy just one month before Americans go to the polls.
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent. Europe’s major bourses dropped sharply at the open before clawing back ground.
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.7 percent as trading resumed following Thursday’s market shutdown caused by a technical fault.
Trading in Asia was thin, however, with markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong closed for holidays.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.4 percent to 5,791.50. Shares in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia also fell.
London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent at 5,834.23 points
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.7 percent as trading resumed following Thursday’s market shutdown caused by a technical fault
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was down 1 percent at 12,592.84
Paris’ CAC 40 was down 0.9 percent at 4,777.18
Oil prices tanked four percent, extending Thursday’s heady losses that were also rooted in the market being awash in crude amid timid demand.
Trading in US stocks was already choppy in the previous session as investors juggled hopeful and pessimistic news on the progress of stimulus talks in Washington.
With a bipartisan deal continuing to elude House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House, the US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a $2.2 trillion Democratic plan on fiscal aid, but objections from top Republicans are likely to doom the plan in the Senate.
‘We are seeing some risk aversion on the back of the Trump news, although as yet the moves we’re seeing are quite modest,’ Oanda analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.
‘Should Trump’s health deteriorate, I expect we would see more significant moves, but there’s no sign of that at this moment.’
The US jobs report is also slated for publication on Friday.
‘It is also worth noting that stimulus talks this week have not gone well which may be contributing to the risk-aversion we’re seeing in the markets, while today’s (US) jobs report may be making people a little cautious,’ Erlam said.
The US stock index futures dropped immediately after Trump tweeted news of his positive COVID-19 test results on Thursday evening after Wall Street had closed. He is pictured above returning to the White House on Thursday hours before revealing that he and Melania tested positive