US equity markets fell sharply, retreating from record highs as the Information Technology sector (down -5.83%) snapped a 10-day winning streak and logged its sharpest drop since March - Dow down -808-points or -2.78% (to 28,292.73) a day after climbing above the 29,000 mark for the first time since February. The index had been down over >1,000 points earlier in the session. The fall marked the indice’s biggest one-day decline since 11 June and pushed the blue chip gauge back into negative territory for the year-to-date (down -0.9%). All but two (namely, American Express Co up +0.1% and Verizon Communications +0.1%) of the Dow’s 30 components closed lower. The S&P500 fell -3.51%, with 446 of the broader indice’s members falling. Consumer Discretionary (down -3.6%) and Communication Services (-3.3%) were the worst performing primary sectors behind Information Technology with falls of over >3%. All eleven primary sectors settled in the red, with Energy (down -0.7%) the best performer. The technology-centric NASDAQ dropped -4.96%, snapping a four session winning streak. Apple Inc (down -8.01%) posted its biggest one-day decline sine 16 March, losing ~US$180B in market capitalisation terms. Google parent Alphabet Inc shed -5% after reports the Justice Department could bring an antitrust case against the search giant as soon as this month. Facebook Inc dropped -3.8% after announcing it would ban new political ads from running in the week before the 3 November presidential election. The declines marked the biggest one-day drops for all three benchmark indexes since June. The Nasdaq-100, comprising the largest 100 non-financial stocks in the Nasdaq, fell -5.2%. Zoom Video Communications Inc (down -10%), Nvidia Corp (-9.3%) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (-8.5%) were among the heavy decliners. Tesla Inc dropped -9.02% to be down over >18% month-to-date.
