New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in red on Tuesday, weakened on its return from a weekend extended by fears linked to the spread of an Asian virus, by the lowering of IMF growth forecasts as well as by new setbacks from Boeing.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones, fell 0.52% to 29,196.04 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq dropped 0.19% to 9,370.81 points while the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.27% to finish at 3,320.79 points.

Market participants, who had raised the indices to new levels last week, were overtaken by several concerns Tuesday morning, on their return from a weekend extended by a holiday in the United States Monday.

The spread of a mysterious new virus causing pneumonia from China has brought back memories of the economic repercussions of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic that hit China hard in 2003.

The Wall Street indices also dived from the nose when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced during the session that a man in his thirties, suffering from the new Chinese coronavirus, had was hospitalized in Everett, near Seattle, thus confirming the first case in the United States.

"If it really becomes a large-scale epidemic, it could weigh on economic activity, especially in Asia," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities.

Tourism-related businesses were particularly affected, such as the Delta (-2.72%), American Airlines (-4.23%) and United Continental (-4.36%) airlines.

Hotel and casino operators Las Vegas Sands Corp (-5.40%), Wynn Resorts (-6.14%) and MGM (-6.22%) were also affected.

Other negative signals on the global economy also shook the markets on Tuesday, including Moody's downgrade of Hong Kong's debt rating. The rating agency criticizes the government of the international financial platform in particular for managing the months of events.

The International Monetary Fund also reduced its forecasts for global economic growth for 2020 on Monday, now counting on 3.3% this year against 3.4% previously.

According to the international institution, the signing of the Sino-American trade agreement and Brexit have given a breath of fresh air to the world economy, whose growth is expected to rebound this year after posting 2.9% in 2019. But the recovery should be "slow" and will remain weakened by the persistence of geopolitical risks.

- New postponement of the 737 MAX -

The 3.33% drop in Boeing's share also weighed on the Dow Jones, of which it is an important member.

The aircraft manufacturer has announced that its 737 MAX will not fly before mid-2020, several months behind its own forecasts and the most optimistic forecasts of experts.

Among other values ​​of the day, Uber jumped 7.03%. The giant vehicle driver reservations (VTC), which is increasing efforts to achieve profitability, has announced the sale of its meal delivery business in India, Uber Eats, to one of its competitors in the country, Zomato.

In the middle of the earnings season, the American oil services group Halliburton announced that it had fallen into the red in 2019, due to a heavy charge of $ 2.2 billion linked to drilling activity and severance payments . But excluding the exceptional items, the group presents a profit per share of 0.34 dollar, higher than analysts' expectations. The stock was down 0.79%.

After the close, it was Netflix's turn to release its quarterly figures, the first since the arrival on the streaming market of new competitors Disney + and Apple TV +. The action of Netflix, which reported results above expectations but revised down its forecasts, gleaned 0.11% in electronic trading after the close of trading.

In the bond market, the 10-year rate on the American debt fell, moving to 1.772% around 9.40 p.m. GMT against 1.822% on Friday at the close.

© 2020 AFP