The stock markets in New York started trading lower on Tuesday, after the nice pluses a day earlier. Wall Street is concerned about the rising death toll in the United States from the new coronavirus.
US investors are also looking at better-than-expected figures on Chinese industry, which showed unexpected growth last month.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow-Jones index was 0.6 percent lower at 22,180 points. The S&P fell 0.7 percent to 2608 points, and technology indicator Nasdaq lost 0.4 percent at 7742 points.
Cruise provider Carnival lost more than 5 percent. Carnival expects to suffer a loss from the cruise industry slump due to the corona crisis and to scrap dividends and share buybacks.
In addition, the company issues billions of new shares and bonds. Cruise companies, along with airline companies, are among the most heavily hit by the virus outbreak.
Ford Motor (minus 0.4 percent) announced it does not expect its plants in North America to reopen from April 6. The company tempered that previously expressed expectation.
The automaker did not specify a date when it expects the locations to be operational again. The factories in North America closed their doors earlier this month.