Shares, oil prices sink after Trump tests COVID positive

Washington:  US stock futures and Asian shares fell Friday after President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
The future contracts for both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials briefly lost more than 2 percent but were down 1.4 percent as of 0630 GMT.
Oil prices tumbled more than 3 percent.
Trump tweeted news of his test results just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks had come down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week.
Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020 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.
To say this potentially could be a big deal is an understatement, Rabobank said in a commentary.