Europe's top stock markets sank in opening deals Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned of "a very, very painful two weeks" to come for the United States.
Investor sentiment was slammed with the number of infected and dead still surging in Europe and the US, while hopes are fading that strict containment measures keeping billions of people at home will be lifted any time soon.
London's FTSE 100 index lost 3.3 percent to 5,484.80 points, hit additionally as top UK bannks axed billions of pounds (dollars) in shareholder dividends and stock buybacks after the Bank of England requested the move to boost liquidity and safeguard against virus turmoil.
In the eurozone meanwhile, Frankfurt's DAX slid 3.0 percent to 9,637.30 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 3.1 percent to 4,261.63.
"The FTSE 100 kicked off the day on a deeply negative (stance) as a growing number of cases in New York -- the new epicentre of the virus after having surpassed the number of cases in Wuhan -- hints that the contagion and the death toll in the US will likely accelerate over the next couple of weeks," Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP.
"Hence, slower activity in the US will likely lead to a further negative revision in company valuations worldwide."
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