Joe Biden widens lead, Goldman says it's time to start selling dollar

Dollar may tumble to its 2018 lows on the rising chances of a Biden win and vaccine progress

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden holds a 17-point lead over Donald Trump in trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, powering the Democrat to a double-digit advantage in vote preference with the presidential election three weeks away.
 

In the aftermath of his own Covid-19 diagnosis, two-thirds of registered voters say Trump failed to take appropriate precautions against the virus, 62 per cent distrust what he says about it and eight months since its arrival in the US just 21 per cent say it's under control.
 

Also damaging to Trump: 58 per cent disapprove of how he's handled the pandemic — essentially steady since July — and a new high, 73 per cent, are worried they or an immediate family member might catch the coronavirus (or say it's already happened).

 

The presidential race stands at 53 per cent-41 cent, Biden-Trump, among registered voters, and a similar 54 per cent-42 per cent among likely voters, with minimal support (in the low single digits) for the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.
 

Worry about the virus remains a significant independent predictor of support for Biden over Trump. The Goldman Sachs strategists have said the dollar may tumble to its lows of 2018 on the rising likelihood of Joe Biden winning the US election and progress on a coronavirus vaccine, according to Goldman Sachs Group.
 

“The risks are skewed toward dollar weakness, and we see relatively low odds of the most dollar-positive outcome — a win by Trump combined with a meaningful vaccine delay,” strategists including Zach Pandl wrote in a note Friday. “A ‘blue wave’ US election and favourable news on the vaccine timeline could return the trade-weighted dollar and DXY index to their 2018 lows.”

The ICE US Dollar Index has fallen over 3 per cent so far this year to just over the 93 level as investors reacted to unprecedented pandemic-related monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve and rock-bottom interest rates.

 

Trump returns to campaign trail
 

US President Donald Trump will try to put his bout with Covid-19 behind him when he returns to the campaign trail on Monday, beginning a three-week sprint to the November 3 US election with a rally in Florida. Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci said he had not agreed to be featured in an ad by Trump's re-election campaign and that his comments were taken out of context.