US equity markets retreated as investors digested news that President Trump and the First Lady had contracted coronavirus, with technology stocks weighing heaviest on the key indices - Dow down -134-points or -0.48% . Walmart Inc (down -1.8%) announced a deal to sell its U.K. supermarket chain Asda for US$8.8B. The buying group consists of private equity firm TDR Capital and the Issa brothers, founders of gasoline station chain EG Group. The broader S&P500 lost -0.96%, with Information Technology (down -2.55%) the worst performing primary sector. Industrials (up +1.09%) and Financials (+0.70%) – two sectors particularly sensitive to a broad economic recovery – both advanced, with some investors possibly position for a stimulus announcement. The NASDAQ dropped -2.22%. The Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) of Facebook Inc (down -2.51%), Google and Twitter Inc (-1.24%) have agreed to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on 28 October on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That rule protects technology companies from liability over the content posted by users on their online services, while allowing them to moderate it. The hearing will also cover the topics of privacy and “media domination.” The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index rose +0.5%. Tesla Inc fell -7.38% after the electric vehicle maker posted third quarter delivery numbers. The company said it delivered 139,300 vehicles during the quarter, which was slightly ahead of the 137,000 analysts had been expecting.
