Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse had its worst session in more than three months on Monday and fell 3.74%, depressed by concerns around the resurgence of Covid-19 and its potential consequences on the economy, a few months after a first wave destructive.

The CAC 40 index dropped 186.14 points to 4,949.76 points.

The other main European markets also closed sharply on Monday.

"There are there both the fears linked to Covid-19, the contagion of the American markets on Europe via technological stocks, and the tensions between the United States and China", summarizes Alexandre Baradez, analyst for IG France.

By the time the United States will pass the 200,000 death mark, Madrid residents are resuming strict travel controls on Monday and the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe, fears a new "takeoff" of the pandemic.

Very sensitive to the mood of Wall Street, the Parisian place deepened its losses at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, itself weakened by the fall of its technological stars on Monday.

At mid-session, the three main New York indices lost between 1.5 and 3%.

After several months of relative optimism against a backdrop of deconfinement and economic recovery, the stock markets have been struggling since the beginning of September to find the energy to continue moving forward.

"There is the feeling that we have absorbed part of the economic rebound, but the slowest part remains to be done", analyzes Alexandre Baradez for whom "everything that will be said about the virus now will have the same importance as monetary policy decisions ".

Also a source of stress in the markets on Monday, the fall in bank stocks across Europe after the revelation of a consortium of journalists who accuse these banking giants of having allowed large-scale dirty money laundering.

Targeted by the investigation into its alleged lack of transparency vis-à-vis certain customers of its Swiss subsidiary SGPB, Societe Generale lost 7.66% to 11.66 euros.

Crédit Agricole dropped 5.36% to 7.66 euros and BNP Paribas 6.37% to 32.39 euros.

These stocks were also affected by the fall in interest rates on the debts of the main states of the euro zone, sought after by investors scalded by the stock market.

Ten-year debt fell between four and five basis points for Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Among other values, companies sensitive to the good health of the economy failed on Monday: ArcelorMittal lost 8.39% to 10.57 euros and Renault 7.75% to 20.88 euros, the two largest falls in the CAC 40.

© 2020 AFP