A man walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo today.
The Dow opened down 1.2% at 27,485.51 points, with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index falling 1.7% to 11,128.88.Oil meanwhile fell sharply again, posting losses of nearly 5% on the prospect of too much supply and too little demand.“The increase in political uncertainty connected with Trump’s diagnosis is … weighing on stocks and stock futures, and supporting safe havens such as the yen, Swiss franc and the US dollar,” Rabobank analyst Jane Foley told AFP.
The extraordinary setback for Trump, 74, has immediate political consequences just 31 days before election day, forcing him to cancel campaign trips and adding new volatility to an already turbulent contest.