(Bloomberg) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19 shortly after one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, had fallen ill. U.S. futures slid while the dollar edged higher and Treasuries rose as markets took a risk-off turn.
Shares of small-cap vaccine developers jumped in premarket trading following the Trump announcement. EU leaders held unscheduled discussions about the virus, while Paris and London are both facing potential new measures. Germany reported its largest number of new cases since mid-April, and there were record levels in Romania, Ukraine and Hungary.
New York State was downgraded at Moody’s for the first time in 30 years due to the impact of the virus on New York City. A $1 billion funding package to help the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fight Covid-19 has remained mostly unspent.
Key Developments:
Global Tracker: Cases pass 34.3 million; deaths exceed 1.02 millionTrump’s age and weight make covid particularly dangerousTrump infection puts large retinue of White House aides at riskCaribbean islands are seeking to revive inbound tourism, without risking coronavirusHow Russia shortened the Covid vaccine race to declare victoryEurope’s banks lead the way in global jobs cull this yearCDC money for Covid tracking, tests has been stalled for monthsEnglish soccer could be next in line for a coronavirus bailout
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Covid-19 Vaccine Plays Jump After President Trump Infected (7:03 a.m. NY)
Small-cap vaccine developers, some of which have yet to test shots in people, jumped in premarket trading in New York. IBio rose 15% before the bell. The company has been touting vaccine candidates since March, without yet starting clinical trials. Vaxart and Sorrento were among other gainers.
EU Leaders Scrap Summit Agenda to Talk About Virus (6:43 a.m. NY)
A Summit of European Union leaders on Friday morning went off topic, highlighting increasing alarm across the 27 nation-bloc about mass flare-ups in new infections. Leaders were supposed to debate industrial policy, how to reduce “strategic dependencies” on complex supply chains, and then get a brief update on Brexit. Instead, they spent the entire morning talking about the pandemic, a topic which wasn’t even on the agenda of the summit, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
EU summits are well-choreographed events and parachuting in new items is rare. The debate on Friday focused again on coordination of the responses, according to the two officials, an area where the bloc’s record has been poor so far. One of the officials said that some leaders asked for the pandemic to be placed permanently on the agenda of summits, as a standard item, until a cure or vaccine is found.
Virus Hits Record Numbers in Eastern Europe Nations (6:38 a.m. NY)
Romania reported a record 2,343 daily Covid-19 infections on Friday and a record number of people hospitalized in intensive-care units, two weeks after schools reopened in the nation with the highest death toll in eastern Europe. A full lockdown isn’t on the cards and the government will only impose targeted restrictions to contain local outbreaks.
Local epidemiologists warn that a new strategy to tackle the spread would have to be considered by the authorities in the coming weeks if cases continue to spike as about 55% of coronavirus-designated ICU beds are already occupied.
Hungary’s new coronavirus infections also hit a record at 1,322, while 17 people died on Thursday, data by the state task force show. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has signaled he intends to avoid a a full lockdown similar to that in spring after counter-measures pushed the country’s deficit into 9.1% of GDP in the second quarter.
Sturgeon Tells U.K. MP Who Broke Covid Rules to Quit (5:33 a.m. NY)
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged one of her party’s lawmakers who broke Covid quarantine rules to resign from the U.K. Parliament, calling her actions “dangerous and indefensible.”
Scottish National Party MP Margaret Ferrier admitted breaking self-isolation rules to attend Parliament in London this week while waiting for the result of a coronavirus test, which later came back positive.
Europe’s Virus Fight Threatens to Close Down Paris Restaurants (4:17 a.m. NY)
French Health Minister Olivier Veran said he may have to declare Paris and its suburbs as high-risk areas as soon as Monday, which would trigger closing bars and restaurants.
Representatives of France’s hospitality industry are trying to thwart the move and plan to present proposals to authorities as soon as Friday. Positive tests in Paris and the number of intensive-care patients have climbed past the “maximum alert” level, Veran told reporters.
London residents are also being told to take immediate action to avoid catching and spreading coronavirus amid warnings that the U.K. capital is at a “tipping point” in its fight with the disease.
AstraZeneca Says Covid-19 Vaccine Trial Resumed in Japan (3:38 a.m. NY)
AstraZeneca’s Phase I/II clinical trial for the Covid-19 vaccine AZD122 has resumed in Japan, adding to earlier restarts around the world, the drugmaker said in a statement.
Regulators have deemed trials to be safe after a standard review process triggered a voluntary pause last month, AstraZeneca said. Tests have restarted in the the U.K., Brazil, South Africa and India.
The company is also working with the FDA to facilitate a review of information needed to make a decision regarding resumption of a U.S. trial.
Trump’s Age and Weight Make Covid Particularly Dangerous (3:33 a.m. NY)
President Donald Trump, who turned 74 in June, may face extra risk from the coronavirus due to his age and weight.
Covid sufferers between the ages of 65 and 74 are five times more likely to be hospitalized and 90 times more likely to die than patients between 18 and 29, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obese people may also be more likely to suffer fatalities, even if the relationship isn’t well understood.
Melania Trump, who is 50, is at lower risk because the vast majority of women to have died from the disease in the U.S. were over 65. Most coronavirus cases worldwide have also only been categorized as mild.
Germany Records Most New Cases Since April 18 (1 a.m. NY)
Germany recorded 2,626 new infections, the most since April 18, taking the nation’s total to 295,539, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The new cases are “predominantly due to transmission at family and other private events,” the RKI public health institute said. The proportion of returning travelers among new infections is declining, the institute said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly urged citizens to adhere to distancing and hygiene rules to prevent another surge in infections, and has vowed to do everything possible to avoid a general lockdown. At the height of the outbreak in late March and early April, Germany’s daily cases rose to almost 7,000.
Trump Test Positive for Covid-19 (12:56 p.m. NY)
U.S. President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, shortly after close aide Hope Hicks had fallen ill with the coronavirus. “We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump said on Twitter.
The 74-year-old president’s test result will sharpen intense public attention on his handling of the pandemic as he campaigns for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, who leads in national polls. Trump is the highest-profile case of the virus, which infected other world leaders, including U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, both of whom recovered.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Trump contracted the virus, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans, but Hicks became ill after flying with the president aboard Air Force One to the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and to a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.
Australia Allows Quarantine-Free Travel From New Zealand (11:47 p.m. NY)
New Zealanders will be allowed to visit Australia’s New South Wales state and Northern Territory from Oct. 16 without having to undergo quarantine, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said.
The move is part of efforts by both nations to create a “trans-Tasman bubble” to stimulate tourism and help their economies recover from the pandemic. That work has been hampered by a resurgence of the virus in Australia’s Victoria state. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that if her countryfolk do travel to Australia, they will still have to quarantine on their return home.
India Adds More Than 80,000 cases as Death Toll Nears 100,000 (11:42 p.m. NY)
India’s coronavirus epidemic continued to surge, with the South Asian nation adding more than 80,000 cases, pushing its tally close to 6.4 million confirmed infections, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Its death toll — at more than 99,700 on Friday — is expected to cross the 100,000 mark on Saturday, a milestone so far reached only by the U.S. and Brazil.
Japan Jobless Rate Hits 3-Year High (7:42 p.m. NY)
Japan’s unemployment rate rose to a three-year high in August as the coronavirus continued to weigh on the economy’s recovery. The rate rose to 3% from 2.9% in July, the internal affairs ministry reported. Japan has suffered fewer job losses than other major economies during the crisis thanks to legal precedents for full-time workers and big cash buffers on corporate balance sheets, along with cheap loans and wage support from the government to keep workers on the payroll.
Hawaii CEO Charged With $12.8 Million Covid-Relief Fraud (7:18 p.m. NY)
An engineering and design firm CEO has been charged in Hawaii with a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $12.8 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program purportedly for relief due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to federal court documents. Martin Kao, CEO of Navatek LLC, now known as Martin Defense Group, was charged with two counts of bank fraud and five counts of money laundering. Prosecutors say Kao falsified information on the loans and transferred more than $2 million to his personal accounts.
New York Downgraded as Moody’s Warns of Long Recovery (7:01 p.m. NY)
New York City and state had their credit ratings lowered for the first time in about three decades by Moody’s Investors Service, which said the impact from the coronavirus on the most populous U.S. city is among the most severe in the nation. Moody’s dropped both by one notch to Aa2, and warned of a long return to normal from the pandemic. New York reported the most coronavirus cases since May, even as the U.S. pace of infections remained steady. Cases are rising in New York City as schools reopen.
Earlier, New York state reported more than 1,300 new cases of coronavirus, the most since May, before New York City began allowing businesses to gradually reopen. The main hot-spot increases have been in Brooklyn and Rockland County, Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters.
Almost 20,000 Amazon Workers Had Covid (6 p.m. NY)
Amazon.com Inc. said almost 20,000 U.S. employees have tested positive for Covid-19 during a time period of a little over six months, a disclosure that follows criticism from some lawmakers and employees that the world’s largest online retailer was too secretive about outbreaks within its ranks.
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