Financial markets know neither remorse nor respect. Seconds after police confirmed that Jo Cox was dead last week, the pound rose sharply against the dollar.
Currency traders were buying sterling because their instant assessment was that the MP's death made it less likely Britain will vote to leave the European Union this week; market orthodoxy says Brexit would be negative for the pound.
The American term for a dramatic last-minute political event is an October Surprise, a phrase born in 1972 when Richard Nixon, the then US president, announced peace in Vietnam two weeks before polling day. He was re-elected comfortably. These days, most historians say it did not change November's result.
Before Cox's dreadful killing Leave was winning, because more voters believed the referendum was about immigration than the economy. People who believe immigration is the most important issue almost all plan to vote Leave. People who believe the economy matters most almost all plan to vote Remain. Where does something as moving as a young mother's death fit into that scheme?
Some believe a connection can be made to Remain's tactics over immigration. Hence British Prime Minister David Cameron's reference to the referendum as a choice between the Little England vision he ascribes to Nigel Farage of Ukip and the "open, tolerant" society he says would embrace the EU. Cameron won't mind a bit if those words lead some voters to associate the Leave campaign with Cox's alleged killer.
