US equity markets retreated as investors struggled to shake off concerns around the rapid jump in Treasury yields despite the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index - the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation - indicating subdued inflation in January – Dow dropped -470-points or -1.50% (to 30,932.37), dropping back below <31,000 The broader S&P500 lost -0.48%, briefly falling below its 50-day moving average (3,808.40). Energy (down -2.30%) led eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. Information Technology (up +0.60%) and Consumer Discretionary (+0.58%) were the leading primary sector performers. Cloud software company Salesforce.Com Inc fell -6.3% despite reporting that revenue topped US$20B for the first time in a fiscal year after the close of last Thursday’s (25 February) session, with 2021 earnings projections below consensus analyst expectations. Johnson & Johnson gained 1.3% in after-hours trading after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it has contacted the company to say it is "rapidly" working toward issuing an emergency use authorization for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Johnson & Johnson said earlier last week that it plans to deliver 20M doses of its single-dose vaccine in the U.S. by the end of March. Almost US$2.5B of shares changed hands near the close, dragging the Dow and S&P500 down to near their lows in the final minutes of Friday night’s (26 February) session. The Nasdaq settled +0.56% higher (to 13,192.34) after a volatile session that saw the index down -0.7% and up as much as +1.9% at session high – and after closing below its 50-day moving average on Thursday (25 February). Facebook Inc (up +1.15%), Microsoft Corp (+1.48%) and Amazon.com Inc (+1.17%) each rose more than >1% The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index inched +0.04% higher.
