New York (AFP)

Wall Street was down at the opening on Thursday, weighed down by renewed concern around the Chinese coronavirus with the sharp increase in the number of infections.

Around 3:20 GMT, its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost 0.48% to 29,408.25 points.

The Nasdaq, with a strong technological coloring, yielded 0.36%, to 9,691.41 points, and the S&P 500, which represents the 500 largest companies on Wall Street, dropped 0.35% to 3,367.60 points.

The main indices of the New York Stock Exchange had reached new levels on Wednesday, market players being less worried about the economic consequences of the viral pneumonia epidemic: the Dow Jones had taken 0.94%, the Nasdaq had appreciated by 0.90% and the S&P 500 had gained 0.65%.

According to Patrick O'Hare of Briefing, the downturn at the start of Thursday's session was mainly caused by "anxiety about the jump in the number of deaths and cases of contamination."

The National Commission (Ministry) of Chinese Health announced Thursday 15,152 new cases and 254 additional deaths. These are by far the largest daily increases since the start of the crisis in December in the capital of Hubei province (center), Wuhan.

"The real problem is that it is becoming increasingly clear that China - the world's second largest economy - is going to be badly affected by the coronavirus and may not rebound as quickly as expected," said O O'Hare.

"This possibility has consequences for the world economy, which leads investors to think that the markets have been too complacent," added the expert.

- Tesla's flip-flop -

Among the indicators, monthly inflation in the United States slightly slowed down its growth rate in January, to + 0.1%, against + 0.2% in December, according to the CPI index published on Thursday by the Department of Job.

The number of unemployment benefit claimants has increased slightly to 205,000 from 203,000 the previous week, according to figures from the Labor Department. However, this increase remains lower than analysts' forecasts.

On the bond market, the 10-year rate of US debt was down, standing at 1.612% against 1.633% the day before at the close.

Among the values ​​of the day, Tesla fell 0.7%. The premium electric car maker has announced it will raise more than $ 2 billion in new money even though its boss Elon Musk had promised two weeks ago that his group would not take advantage of its recent stock market spike .

AIG sold 0.41%. The US insurer, however, returned to profit in 2019 thanks to a fall in accident-related compensation and good contributions in life insurance products.

Altice USA, the American subsidiary of the media and telecoms empire of French tycoon Patrick Drahi, lost 2.7%. The group disappointed Wall Street by announcing Wednesday after the close of quarterly and annual results below expectations.

PepsiCo dropped 0.9%. The group posted better-than-expected results in the fourth quarter, but its forecast for 2020 has disappointed the markets.

© 2020 AFP