“At the time of writing, US equity futures are down more than 1% while October futures for the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) spiked as much as 12% before easing downwards,” writes Lee in a broker’s report for Oct 2. The risk-off positioning saw the US Dollar (USD) weaken against safe-haven assets like the Japanese Yen (JPY) and gold while broadly strengthening against emerging market (EM) currencies.
While news of Donald Trump contracting Covid-19 certainly set social media alight, a Citi Private Bank’s CIO Strategy Bulletin did not report any particularly significant market implications. And though investors did adopt a risk-off position, Bank of Singapore (BOS) Head of Investment Strategy Eli Lee sees no long-term impact on the economy and maintains his long-run constructive outlook on financial markets.
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