US equity markets resumed trading following the Good Friday holiday with steep losses, with the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ cohort of large capitalisation technology stocks under particular pressure - Dow shed -972-points or -2.48%, extending its decline into a fourth consecutive session. UnitedHealth Group Inc (down -6.34%) was the worst performing Dow component overnight, extending the health insurer’s two-day decline to -27.3% - the stock’s worst two-day performance since 7 August, 1998 – after releasing its first quarter result last Thursday (17 April) and lowering its annual profit forecast on expectations of high medical costs for the rest of the year. Nvidia Corp lost -4.51% after Reuters reported that Huawei Technologies planned to begin mass shipments of an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip to customers in China as early as next month. Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang met Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday (21 April), following a meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing last Thursday (17 April). Nike Inc (up +0.65%) was the only Dow component to advance overnight.
