US equity markets retreated but settled well of their session lows, with the second quarter bank earnings season kicking off and as the stronger-than-expected consumer price inflation (CPI) report released a day earlier continued to reverberate - Dow fell -143-points or -0.46%, recovering from a steeper decline of -628-points. UnitedHealth Group Inc added +0.24% ahead of the release of the company’s quarterly result tonight AEST. The broader S&P500 -0.30%, extending losses into a fifth consecutive session. Financials (down -1.92%), Energy (-1.90%) and Materials (-1.89%) all fell ~1.9% to lead eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. Information Technology sat atop the primary sector leaderboard overnight with a +0.93% gain. The Nasdaq inched +0.03% higher after a mixed performance from the big technology names, with Apple Inc up +2.05% and chipmaker Nvidia Corp +1.37%. Meta Platforms Inc fell -3.33% and Salesforce Inc -1.50%. Both the S&P500 and Nasdaq rebounded from earlier session declines of over >2%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -1.07%.