BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell on Monday as investors braced for a sustained blow to economic activity from the spread of coronavirus.
The worldwide infections topped 723,000, and the death toll touched 34,000, while nearly 152,000 have recovered.
The White House on Sunday sent out a dire warning, saying that a total of 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could eventually succumb to the virus in a worst-case scenario in two weeks coinciding with Easter weekend.
'It's possible. It's entirely possible that would happen if we don't mitigate. What we're trying to do is to not let that happen,' America's top infectious diseases doctor, Anthony Fauci said at a White House briefing in the Rose Garden on Sunday.
The benchmark DAX was down 0.1 percent at 9,623, off the day's lows, after losing 3.7 percent on Friday.
Commerzbank fell as much as 5 percent and Deutsche Bank was modestly lower after the European Central Bank ordered eurozone banks to freeze dividend payments in a bid to shore up credit.
RIB Software was marginally higher despite reporting a drop in FY profit and suspending its 2020 guidance.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX