US equity markets retreated on Friday (19 August), with the recent rebound faltering as interest rate hike fears resurfaced ahead of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that begins on Thursday night AEST (25 August) - Dow fell -292-points or -0.86%, The broader S&P500 lost -1.29%, with Consumer Discretionary (-2.10%) and Financials (2.02%) both falling over >2% to lead nine of the eleven primary sectors lower, Information Technology (-1.83%) was also a major drag. Health Care (+0.27%) and Energy (+0.02%) were the only primary sectors to advance. General Motors Co rose +2.53% after it said it would reinstate quarterly dividend payouts. Occidental Petroleum Corp jumped more +9.88% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc received regulatory approval (after filing an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on 11 July) to buy to half of the oil company. Berkshire currently owns 188.5M shares of Occidental, equal to a 20.2% position. It surpassed a key threshold where Berkshire could record some of the oil company’s earnings with its own, potentially adding billions of dollars in profit. The Nasdaq -2.01%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -2.17%. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc tumbled -40.54% after Bloomberg reported that some suppliers are restricting or halting shipments altogether after the home-goods retailer fell behind on payments. The report came after GameStop Corp Chairman Ryan Cohen disclosed in a filing after the close of last Wednesday’s (17 August) session that he’s planning to sell his big stake in the company just months after he bought it.
