The leader of the free world, for the next month at least, has tested positive for Covid-19. The 74 year old, with the First Lady, said they had already begun quarantining while they awaited the results of their Covid-19 tests, after Hope Hicks, a senior White House adviser who travelled with the president this week, tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump was typically upbeat after learning the result, taking to Twitter to tell the world ‘Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!’.
However, at 74, not in the greatest of shape, catching the virus that almost killed Boris Johnson, 1 month before the election, does throw up all sorts of questions. Will there be a pause in campaigning, will the next two Presidential debates go ahead, or indeed will Trump benefit from sympathy votes. Also what would happen in a worst case scenario, a re-scheduling of the Election? A lot more questions than answers at the moment, the next few days / weeks could be a roller coaster ride for risk and headline writers alike.
Also, today we had September’s Non-farm Payroll numbers. The market estimates were for 859k jobs added, an unemployment rate of 8.2% and participation rate of 61.9% before the figures.
The actual number of jobs added was 661k with the previous month’s figure revised up slightly. The unemployment rate fell to 7.9% versus the prior month’s reading of 8.4% and the participation rate fell from last month's 61.7%, to 61.4%.