The major indexes on the New York Stock Exchange ended today’s session with declines amid the investor alarms related to the spread of the coronavirus and the negative effects the epidemic is expected to have on the global economy and trade.

In the last hour of trading, the technology index Nasdaq Composite went from green to red, wiping out 0.01% of its value, reaching 9,730.19 points. Shortly before, the index held up 0.04%, aided by the good performance of Netflix and Alphabet, which offset the decline at Apple.

The blue-chip index Dow Jones Industrial Average, which monitors the trading of securities of the top 30 US public companies, fell by 179.24 points, or 0.61%, to 29,218.84 points.

The broad meter S&P 500 registered a decrease of 0.34% to 3,368.63 points. The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 8.41% to 14.83.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1622 to 1167 and 97 ended unchanged. On the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1436 fell and 1198 advanced, while 90 ended unchanged.

The fast-spreading virus killed nearly 1,900 victims in China and infected about 72,000 people, leaving millions of people trapped in their homes, cutting off supply chains and delaying the opening of factories after extended weekends for the Chinese New Year. Manufacturing units in China that make Apple iPhones and other electronics have begun to reopen but are working much slower than expected, Apple said. This will mean that there will be fewer ready-to-sell smartphones in the world, making Apple one of the largest Western companies to be affected by what is happening.

In the bond markets, yields on 10-year and 30-year US Treasury securities rose to 1.556% and 2.008%, respectively.

In the foreign exchange trade, the dollar index rose from 0.44% to 99.43 points.

Corporate stocks performance

The stocks of Netflix rose by 2.3%, while the Alphabet’s stock added 0.2% to its value.

Apple shares fell nearly 2% after the company warned it would probably not meet its quarterly earnings forecast until March, announced just three weeks ago, as the world’s highest-rated tech company falls victim to the epidemic on the coronavirus.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Franklin Resources Inc (+6.94%), Advance Auto Parts Inc (+6.15%) and Kroger Company (+5.24%), while on the flipside were Vulcan Materials Company (-6.67%), ConAgra Foods Inc (-6.15%) and Baker Hughes A Ge Company LLC (-4.87%).