US equity markets fell sharply on Friday (21 February) to leave the benchmark indices nursing their first weekly falls in three weeks - Dow fell -228-points or -0.78% (to 28,992.40), retreating below <29,000 for the first time since 4 February. Microsoft Corp (down -3.16%), Apple Inc (-2.26%) and Intel Corp (-2.18%) were all notable drags in the index. The broader S&P500 -1.05%, Wells Fargo & Co gained 1.5% after the bank paid US$3B to settle a probe into the creation of fake-accounts to boost profits, which was brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice. The technology-centric NASDAQ dropped -1.79%, with Facebook Inc (down -2.05%), Amazon.com Inc (-2.65%), Netflix Inc (-1.54%) Google-parent Alphabet Inc (-2.18%) and Apple Inc all recording declines of at least -1.5%. Ebay Inc bucked the weaker trend with a +1.4% gain following a Wall Street Journal report that said that the e-commerce company could potentially sell its classified ad business, which operates mostly outside of the U.S. For the week, the Dow fell -1.38%, S&P500 -1.25% and Nasdaq -1.59%.
