New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange ended in red on Friday, caught up again this weekend by fears of a large-scale spread of a Chinese virus that could potentially affect global growth.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58% to finish at 28,989.73 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq fell 0.93% to 9,314.91 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, lost 0.90% to 3,295.47 points.

The indices had however started the session in the green, reassured by the decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) not yet to declare a state of international alert against the new Chinese coronavirus.

But the indices began to weaken after the confirmation, during the session Friday, of a second case of the virus in the United States. Two cases were later confirmed in France, the first in Europe.

However, China has intensified its efforts to contain the spread of the epidemic with the confinement of more than 40 million people in Hubei province. Many of the celebrations for the Lunar New Year on Saturday have also been canceled.

"As such, the virus is not in itself a great danger" for the American stock market, said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investment. "But if it continues to expand, if new cases appear for example this weekend in Africa, South America, elsewhere in Asia, it would be a bad sign for global economic growth, which is already fragile" , he emphasizes. This uncertainty "makes people nephews and encouraged them to sell before going on weekends," he said.

Over the week, the Dow Jones fell 1.2%, the Nasdaq 0.8% and the S&P 500 1.0%.

As a sign of the caution of investors and their interest in assets deemed less risky, the 10-year rate on US debt fell sharply this week. It was moving Friday around 21:15 GMT at 1.684% against 1.733% Thursday at the close, and 1.822% last Friday.

But the decline in indices is also, in Mr. Sarhan's eyes, "perfectly normal, and healthy, after their recent rise". The Nasdaq closed again at an unprecedented level on Thursday while the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 remain close to the records reached last Friday.

The results released by companies in the past two weeks "are pretty good," said the specialist. "The Federal Reserve continues to be accommodative, which translates into easy money for investors, tax policy is fairly market-friendly, and we have been told about future tax cuts," said Mr. Sarhan. "Aside from the threat of the virus, all of these are positive for the stock market."

© 2020 AFP