- The Nasdaq fell 1.14% on Tuesday to close at 15,238 points.
- Rivian dipped on reports of acceleration in Tesla lawsuit against the company.
- Toyota shares jumped 2.6% on news of an increase in EV production.
The US markets extended losses into Tuesday as investors assessed whether the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is likely to impact how the Federal Reserve tackles rising inflation.
The Dow Jones fell 0.30% to finish the trading day down 107 points to close at 35,544 points .
The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 1.14% to finish the trading day down 176 points to close at 15,238 points
One bitcoin is worth US$48,267 going into the Asian trading day. Dogecoin spiked 20% overnight after Elon Musk said Tesla will accept the cryptocurrency as payment for some merchandise.
The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 71.02 US cents.
Rivian shares took a hit on Tuesday after Bloomberg reported that a Californian judge ordered Tesla to accelerate its lawsuit against Rivian, alleging that Rivian stole documents from Tesla. If Rivian wins the lawsuit it will remove any doubt around the new EV maker's future, but if it loses to Tesla, Rivian could cripple in a critical time as it prepares the R1T and R1S for market in addition to 100,000 EVs for Amazon.
Shares in Japan?s largest automaker, Toyota, rose more than 2.6% on Tuesday after the company increased its forecast for electric vehicle production. The company announced it aims to sell 3.5 million EVs a year annually in 2030, will increase its investment in battery development to US$18bn (?2tn), and will launch 30 EV models by 2030.
And Nike is expanding into the virtual world after announcing it has acquired RTFKT Studios, a maker of sneaker NFTs.