Joe Biden is set to become the 46th President of the United States denying incumbent Donald Trump a second term in office.
Global equities suffered their worst weekly decline since March, as coronavirus cases in Europe and the U.S. resurged and election uncertainty weighed on sentiment. Waning U.S. fiscal stimulus hopes also weighed down on markets despite an already low expectation for a pre-election deal.
Major U.S. indices snapped a three-week winning streak as investors focused on third-quarter corporate earnings, the next coronavirus aid bill as well as the fast approaching November 3rd presidential election.
Most global equity markets rose for the week as investors seemed to grow more optimistic that the Trump administration and U.S. legislators would reach some form of a stimulus deal, as well as progress on treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus.
U.S. politics was always going to be centre stage this week, following the first presidential debate between candidates Biden and Trump which took place on Tuesday.
The first presidential debate between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic party Nominee Joe Biden is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 29 September in Cleveland, Ohio.
Global stock markets were slightly softer this week as renewed Covid-19 vaccine optimism was seemingly offset by concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy will be less effective in supporting the U.S. recovery going forward.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index is off nearly 11% from its recent high, the index closed under its 50-day moving average for the first time in 105 days as technology stocks experienced their worst pullback since March. Facebook and Amazon each lost more than 5% over the week while Apple and Netflix slid 7.4% and 6.6%, respectively.