Escalating Chaos Again Proves Incapable of Derailing the S&P 500

  • Benchmark ends four weeks of losses despite political drama
  • Trump’s illness seen easing risk over election, fiscal bill
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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First it was a shouting match of a presidential debate that raised doubts about the sanctity of the electoral process, then news Donald Trump had fallen ill with Covid-19. The S&P 500’s verdict on such a nerve-wracking week? Up 1.5%.

Even with Friday’s decline on the president’s diagnosis, stocks managed enough buoyancy over the first four days to come out comfortably ahead, defying a panoply of threats. If anything is a microcosm for the 2020 stock market, the last few days are it -- dip buyers clawing their way through considerable political and societal gloom and finding things to embrace.