- The Nasdaq fell 0.03% to close the midweek session at 13,300.
- Coinbase shares plunged amid China?s warning of cryptocurrency ban.
- Target rallied on strong quarterly results including 60% sales growth YoY.
The US markets extended losses in the midweek session as the minutes out from the Central Bank?s latest meeting show some officials want to begin making a plan for reducing the Fed?s large bond buying program in a future meeting to address rising inflation.
The Dow Jones fell 0.48% to finish the trading day down 165 points to close at 33,896 points.
The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 0.03% to finish the trading day down 4 points to close at 13,300 points.
One bitcoin is worth US$37,608 going into the Asian trading day. The world?s largest cryptocurrency is in free fall, shedding 13.42% in the last 24-hours and continuing to fall after China warned cryptocurrencies would not be allowed in transactions.
The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 77.22 US cents.
Shares in recently listed Coinbase plummeted on Wednesday as the US? largest cryptocurrency exchange platform is experiencing delays in withdrawals for Ethereum due to network congestion. The platform as a whole is also facing intermittent downtime as the crypto-world continues to experience mass sell-offs.
US budget-retail giant Target rallied 6% on Wednesday after reporting another strong quarter of results, including revenue growth of 23% to US$24.2bn and a 60% surge in apparel sales YoY. The best result of all was earnings per share skyrocketing 525% to US$3.69/share.
And new research by scientists and dog trainers in the US shows dogs are able to use smell to detect COVID-19 positive people even if they are asymptomatic. Like the dogs in airports trained to sniff out drugs or explosives, these canines are trained to differentiate COVID-19 positive and negative people.