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(Alliance News) - US President Donald Trump has tested positive for Covid-19, upending the already tense US election, but was described by his doctor on Friday as feeling "well" and able to perform his duties while quarantining.
Trump, 74, first announced on Twitter that he and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, had tested positive for the virus.
"We will get through this TOGETHER!" he wrote.
The extraordinary setback for Trump had immediate political consequences just 31 days before election day, forcing him to cancel campaign trips and adding new volatility to a contest already steeped in tension, AFP reports.
Trump's challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, is well ahead in the polls and has made criticism of the Republican's handling of the coronavirus – and frequent downplaying of the pandemic's seriousness – a key issue.
Trump, in response, has been betting on an evermore aggressive schedule of campaign rallies around the country. The events, which he says prove his true political strength, bring together thousands of people, often without masks and sometimes in contravention of local rules.
That strategy is now in doubt, with the White House immediately cancelling a planned campaign rally in the crucial swing state of Florida later Friday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 1.1% at 5,814.19
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Hang Seng: Hong Kong market closed for holiday
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.7% at 23,029.90
DJIA: closed up 35.20 points, 0.1%, at 27,816.90
S&P 500: closed up 17.80 points, 0.5%, at 3,380.80
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GBP: down at USD1.2875 (USD1.2889)
EUR: down at USD1.1734 (USD1.1745)
Gold: up at USD1,913.31 per ounce (USD1,910.51)
Oil (Brent): down at USD39.77 a barrel (USD40.13)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
China Golden Week continues. Financial markets closed in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
0830 EDT US jobs report for September
0945 EDT US ISM-NY report on business
1000 EDT US University of Michigan survey of consumers
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New local lockdowns will be imposed in the north of England as travellers arriving from Turkey and Poland are to be told to enter quarantine to combat a resurgence in coronavirus. More than a third of the UK will be under heightened restrictions when Liverpool, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough enter local lockdowns on Saturday. Holidaymakers began cancelling their plans after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Thursday that more countries will be removed from the quarantine exemption list. Those returning from Turkey, Poland and the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba will have to isolate for 14 days if they arrive after 4am on Saturday.
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An MP has apologised for travelling to London to debate the coronavirus response in Parliament after experiencing Covid-19 symptoms before testing positive and returning to Scotland. The SNP suspended Margaret Ferrier after she acknowledged on Thursday that "there is no excuse for my actions" and said she had reported herself to police after revealing her journey while positive with the virus. Party leader Nicola Sturgeon condemned the "utterly indefensible" behaviour amid calls for the MP to resign, including from within her own party. Ferrier said she took a test on Saturday afternoon after experiencing "mild symptoms", meaning she should have self-isolated, before travelling by train to London on Monday.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces mounting unease from his Conservative rank and file over the coronavirus pandemic as the party opens its annual conference on Saturday in a quieter virtual format, PA reports. Instead of the usual tub-thumping speeches in cavernous halls and crowded drinks gatherings, the party faithful will follow proceedings online, depriving Johnson of a chance to deliver one of his barnstorming turns. But that may be a blessing in disguise, with polls suggesting he is increasingly becoming the target of public disquiet over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as a second wave worsens what is already the highest death toll in Europe.
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Almost half of UK firms have suffered a fall in sales in recent months as business conditions remain "fragile", according to a new report. The British Chambers of Commerce said companies were enduring a sustained "cash crunch" amid the ongoing virus crisis. A survey of 6,410 firms, employing more than 580,000 people across the UK, found that cash flow in the services sector remained at levels comparable to the recession a decade ago. Business to consumer firms, including hospitality, were faring the worst, said the BCC.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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MAINFIRST CUTS ROLLS-ROYCE TO 'HOLD' (BUY)
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GOLDMAN SACHS RAISES INTERTEK TO 'NEUTRAL' ('SELL') - TARGET 6630 (4300) PENCE
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MORGAN STANLEY RAISES IMI TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT') - TARGET 1260(1100) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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British Airways-parent International Consolidated Airlines Group said it has received 100% acceptances for the new shares to be issued under the company's EUR2.74 billion equity capital raise. The Anglo-Spanish airline group earlier in September had said it would issue 2.98 billion shares at EUR0.92 each to strengthen its balance sheet and reduce leverage. Qatar Airways, IAG's largest shareholder with a 25% stake, had irrevocably undertaken to subscribe for its pro-rata entitlement under the capital increase. IAG on Friday said it has received acceptances in respect of all 2.98 billion shares to be issued under the fundraise.
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AstraZeneca said its Farxiga drug has been granted breakthrough therapy designation in the US for patients with chronic kidney disease, with and without type-2 diabetes. The US Food & Drug Administration assigns breakthrough therapy designation to candidates that address a significant unmet medical need and which show encouraging early clinical results. "Following the ground-breaking DAPA-CKD results, the Breakthrough Therapy Designation is further testament to Farxiga's potential to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease. We look forward to working with the Food & Drug Administration to make Farxiga available to patients as quickly as possible," said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of Astra's BioPharmaceuticals R&D unit.
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Barclays said it will fully redeem all of its EUR1.25 billion 2.625% fixed rate subordinated callable notes due 2025 on November 11. The outstanding notes, the lender said, will be redeemed on the November 11 redemption date at a price equal to 100% of their principal amount plus accrued but unpaid interest.
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Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley, who are advising Rolls-Royce Holdings on its GBP5 billion debt and equity issue plans, have cut their underwriting exposure to the fundraising due to the Covid-19 led market volatility and the US presidential elections, the Financial Times report, citing several sources. Rolls-Royce on Thursday had outlined plans for a balance sheet boosting GBP2 billion rights issue, a GBP1 billion bond offering and the possibility of GBP2 billion more in loans. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, along with Rolls-Royce's house broker Jefferies, had originally committed to underwrite 60% of the 6.4 billion new Rolls-Royce shares to be issued in the 10-for-three cash call. The total commitment is now closer to 30%, the newspaper reported.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Future said it has acquired US-based digital entertainment publisher CinemaBlend for an undisclosed sum. The UK magazine publisher said the move was intended to expand its reach of 46 million online users in its TV & film and games & entertainment categories, particularly in the US.
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Liontrust Asset Management said it is to sell its Asia Income investment team to Somerset Capital for a total of up to GBP2 million in cash. Completion is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021. "After consideration and discussions with Somerset and the Asia Income Team, the directors of the company decided that the sale to Somerset, a specialist emerging markets and Asian equities fund management business, is in the best interests of the investors in the fund, the Asia Income team and Liontrust shareholders. This review has also led to Liontrust deciding to close the European Income and Macro Thematic investment teams," the company said.
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Moody's Investors Service downgraded Cineworld Group's corporate family rating to Caa3 from B3, reflecting "significant operating challenges" amid the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the possibility of a second wave. The ratings agency downgraded the cinema chain's probability of default rating to Caa3-PD from B3-PD. Moody's also downgraded ratings of the company's outstanding USD3.33 billion and the EUR213 million of senior secured term loan B due 2025 and a USD573.3 million senior secured revolving credit facility due 2023. Additionally, Moody's maintained its negative outlook on all of the Brentford, England-based firm's ratings. This reflects Cineworld's "very tight liquidity position" as well as uncertainty around cinema attendance levels.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Ryanair Holding said September traffic was down 64% to 5.1 million passengers from 14.1 million at the same time last year, as Covid-19 restrictions continued to hurt air travel. The Irish carrier said it operated around 53% of its normal September schedule with a 71% load factor.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Amazon.com said that slightly more than 19,800 of its employees have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of March. Data on the e-commerce giant's 1.37 million frontline workers, including those at its Whole Foods Market grocery stores in the US, showed a lower infection rate than expected, Amazon said. The release of the figure comes as some workers in logistics centres have criticised the company's safeguards to protect them from the pandemic as well as its reluctance to share information about colleagues who get infected. Amazon has ramped up testing to 50,000 a day across 650 sites, according to the Seattle-based company.
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Friday's Shareholder Meetings
Cobra Resources - GM re power to allot shares
Just Eat Takeaway.com - EGM re Grubhub acquisition
NCC Group
Tiziana Life Sciences - GM re Accustem Sciences demerger
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
