US equity markets retreated amid fresh evidence of stubborn inflation, and following some hawkish commentary from Federal Reserve speakers - Dow fell -431-points or -1.3%, Microsoft Corp and Walt Disney Co contributed the most to the Dow’s decline, down -2.66% and -3.12% respectively. The broader S&P500 shed -1.4%, with Consumer Discretionary (down -2.16%), Information Technology (-1.75%) and Communication Services (-1.55%) all down over >1.5% to lead all eleven primary sectors lower. Bank of America Corp (down -0.79%) is planning to cut jobs in its investment bank, according to a Bloomberg News report, albeit the cuts could affect less than 200 banking globally according to people familiar with the matter. Tesla Inc fell -5.69% after the company issued a voluntary recall notice for 362,758 vehicles in the US equipped with the company’s experimental driver-assistance software, which is marketed as Full Self-Driving Beta or FSD Beta. The electric vehicle manufacturer will deliver an over-the-air software update to cars to address the issues. The FSD Beta system may cause crashes by allowing the affected vehicles to: “Act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution,” according to a safety recall report on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Nasdaq dropped -1.78%. Cisco Systems Inc rallied +5.24% after reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings per share (US0.88c versus consensus estimates for US$0.86c) and revenue (US$13.59B versus consensus US$13.43B) after the close a day earlier. Roku Inc soared +11.15% after the streaming service reported a narrower-than-expected fourth quarter loss per share (-US$1.70 versus consensus US$1.73), and better-than-expected revenue after the close of the previous session. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -0.96%.
