New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange was in sharp decline Monday soon after the opening, worried about an acceleration of the spread of the coronavirus and its possible consequences on world growth.

Around 2:50 p.m. GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 1.44% to 28,571.88 points.

The highly technological Nasdaq fell 1.74% to 9,152.58 points.

The S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, lost 1.36% to 3,250.64 points.

Wall Street had already been affected by this epidemic from China during the last sessions: over the whole of last week, the Dow Jones had fallen by 1.2%, the Nasdaq by 0.8% and the S&P 500 by 1 , 0%.

At least 80 people have died in China after being infected with the new coronavirus, according to a latest report from local authorities who are taking drastic measures to curb the spread both inside and outside the country.

"This development exacerbates fears about the potential impact of the virus and the fact that a handful of cases have been identified in other countries such as the United States, Canada, France, South Korea and Japan ", notes Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.

Airlines were among the companies most affected by growing concerns about the Chinese epidemic: American Airlines fell 7.13% and Delta 4.18%.

Travel agencies also suffered from this climate of anxiety: Expedia dropped by 4.09%, Booking by 3.42% and the cruise specialist Carnival by 3.8%.

Other big names on the New York Stock Exchange, a large part of whose production is based in China, were also losing ground, such as Apple (-2.41%) and Nike (-2.92%).

"Despite these headlines, the World Health Organization recently indicated that the epidemic was not yet a global public health emergency," said Sam Stovall, strategist for CFRA.

"But the virus has not yet been brought under control, the impact on global economic growth is impossible to determine and, therefore, puts pressure on share prices," he added.

As a sign of investor interest in assets deemed less risky, the 10-year rate on US debt, which had already dropped significantly last week, fell further, moving to 1.615% against 1.684% at the close on Friday.

© 2020 AFP