US equity markets retreated as investors assessed the latest inflation report - Dow down -327-points or -1.02%, unwinding an earlier rally of ~423-points. Visa Inc (up +1.62%) and Merck & Co Inc (+1.57%). The index’s -6.5% decline over the past five trading session marks its biggest such decline since 15 June, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The broader S&P500 lost -1.65% to 3,935.18, touching an intra-session 52-week low (3,928.52) and is now down more than >18% from its 52-week high (and down over >17% calendar year-to-date). Consumer Discretionary (down -3.57%) and Information Technology (-3.30%) both declined over >3% to lead eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. The Energy (up +1.37%) sector helped to limit declines in the Dow and S&P500. The Nasdaq dropped -3.18%. Apple Inc shed -5.18% (dragging its market capitalisation down to ~US$2.37 trillion) and was usurped as the world’s largest company by capitalisation by oil giant Saudi Aramco (~US$2.43 trillion). Apple passed Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2020. Netflix Inc closed -6.4% lower in the wake of a New York Times report detailing plans by the streaming giant to launch an ad-supported pricing tier and crack down on password sharing. Meta Platforms Inc fell -4.51% and Microsoft Corp -3.32%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 fell -2.48%. Coinbase Global Inc slumped -26.4% after the crypto exchange reported first-quarter revenue (US$1.17B) below expectations (US$1.48B) after the close of the previous session, impacted by lower crypto asset prices and market volatility.
