US equity markets weaker as investors continued to monitor Russia-Ukraine updates and China’s latest COVID-related lockdown ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy decision on Thursday morning AEST (17 March) - Dow settled unchanged , relinquishing an earlier rally of as much as +450-points. Apple Inc fell -2.66% after its supplier and biggest assembler of iPhones Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, known as Foxconn Technology Group, suspended operations in China's Shenzhen amid rising COVID-19 cases. There were separate reports that Foxconn is in talks with Saudi Arabia about jointly building a US$9B multipurpose facility that could make microchips, electric-vehicle components and other electronics like displays, according to people familiar with the matter. Taiwan-based Foxconn is also reportedly talking with the United Arab Emirates about potentially siting the project there. Intel Corp and Salesforce.Com Inc fell -3.12% and -2.4% respectively. However, American Express Co and Visa Inc were among the Dow’s top gainers, adding +2.9% and +1.8% respectively. The broader S&P500 fell -0.74%, with Energy (down -2.89%) and Information Technology (-1.90%) leading seven of the eleven primary sectors lower. Financials (up +1.25%) was the best performing primary sector overnight. The S&P 500 booked its first death cross - where the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average - since March of 2020. The technology-centric Nasdaq dropped -2.06%, with chipmakers under particular pressure. Qualcomm Inc fell -7.25% and Nvidia Corp -3.48%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 declined -1.92%. The U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd sank -10.3% as the China-based e-commerce giant continues to suffer from a broad selloff in China’s stock market amid the threat of delisting of shares of China-based companies in the U.S. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell -4.97% yesterday (14 March), while mainland Chinese stocks were also weaker (Shanghai Stock Exchange down -2.60%, with the Shenzhen Component Index shed -3.08%)
