In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.9% to 5,907.40 while Germany's DAX skidded 1.7% to 13,342.32. Britain's FTSE 100 gave up 2.2% to 7,421.93. Shares also looked set for declines on Wall Street, where the future contracts for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both sank 1.2%.
Many Asian markets, including China's, were closed for Lunar New Year holidays, while Australia was closed for Australia Day. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index sank 2% to 23,343.51. India's Sensex lost 1% to 41,204.15, while the benchmark in Thailand dropped 3.1%. Indonesia's share benchmark was 1.8% lower. The virus that has spread to a dozen countries in addition to Hong Kong and Macau can cause pneumonia and other severe respiratory symptoms. The World Health Organization has not yet declared the situation a global emergency, which would bring more money and resources to fight it, but could trigger still more economically damaging restrictions on trade and travel.
On Friday, the S&P 500 had its worst day since early October, dropping 0.9% as health care stocks saw steep losses. The sell-off followed news that a Chicago woman had become the second U.S. patient diagnosed with the new virus from China.
Ça c’est très grave