Rocky week expected with new wave of uncertainty

MUCH of Wall Street will be keeping bedside vigil in the Washington, DC area this week. US stocks rose slightly last week but remained on a knife edge after the shock of US President Donald Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis and floundering negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on another stimulus bill.

If markets "hate uncertainty", as the old Wall Street adage has it, this could be another rocky week with daily updates from Mr Trump's treatment at the Walter Reed Army Military Center and congressional wrangling.

The president's doctors indicated that Mr Trump had a mild dose of the virus, but White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows soon contradicted those reports, suggesting that Mr Trump had a serious illness and was not out of the woods yet.