Investors fretted about a global lift in coronavirus cases. Defensive sectors like real estate and utilities held up best while airlines and cruise liners fell the most. Shares in Boeing fell by 4.1% following the departure of its finance chief. But shares in IBM rose 3.8% after recording the biggest rise in quarterly sales in more than two years. The Dow Jones index fell by 256 points or 0.8%. The S&P 500 index fell by 0.7%. And the Nasdaq index lost 128.5 points or 0.9%. After the close of trade, shares in Netflix were down by 10% in response to its earnings result.