US equity markets drifted lower after a quiet session amid fresh global growth concerns and with investors eyeing the latest tensions in the Middle East - Dow eased -17-points or -0.07% The broader S&P500 -0.16%, NASDAQ -0.52%, with chipmakers particularly week (Micron Technology Inc down -2.16%, Qualcomm Inc -1.73% and Advanced Micro Devices -3.28%) after a soft second quarter result and outlook from Broadcom Inc. Facebook Inc rose +2.18% after the Wall Street Journal revealed the social networking giant will be partnering with the likes of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber to create a cryptocurrency called Libra. The White House firmly placed the blame on Iran for last Thursday's (13 June) attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stating that Tehran wanted its "successful maximum pressure campaign" lifted. Iran took aim at Washington later in the day, denying Pompeo's claims when the Middle Eastern nation's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the US "immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran-/wo a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence". For the week, the Dow rose +0.41%, S&P500 +0.47% and Nasdaq +0.7%.
