If God were an equity trader, his Democratic bias would be plain to see. Having signalled he would attempt to “turn the page” from the conversation about the economy, John McCain was yesterday greeted with another stock market slump that brought the Dow Jones below 10,000 for the first time since 2004.

An increasingly frantic Republican party, which has watched Barack Obama restore a strong lead since the latest phase of the financial meltdown struck in September, has indicated that it plans to “take off the gloves” – in the words of Sarah Palin, Mr McCain’s running mate – by questioning Mr Obama’s patriotism.