- The Nasdaq rose 0.4% to close Wednesday?s session at 15,845 points.
- HP rose 10% on Q4 results beating estimates including 12% increase in sales.
- Gap shares had their worst session in history, tumbling 24% on Q3 results.
The US markets closed mixed again on Wednesday following the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve?s latest meeting showing that officials believe the latest spike in inflation could take longer to ease than previously anticipated.
New weekly jobless claims in the US reached the lowest level in 50-years last week at 199,000 in further signs that the labour market is recovering well post-pandemic.
The Dow Jones fell 0.026% to finish the trading day down 9 points to close at 35,804 points .
The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 0.4% to finish the trading day up 70 points to close at 15,845 points with Facebook and Tesla gaining 1.13% and 0.63% respectively.
One bitcoin is worth US$57,472 going into the Asian trading day.
The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 72.07 US cents.
Personal computing giant HP soared 10% on Wednesday after releasing fourth-quarter results that beat analysts estimates after the closing bell on Monday. For the period, HP reported Q4 sales jumped 9% from the same period a year earlier, FY21 sales jumped 12% to US$63.5bn and net quarterly profit came in at US$2.71/share, 5.5 times that of the same period a year earlier.
Shares in clothing retailer Gap nosedived 24%, its biggest drop on record, on Wednesday after reporting disappointing quarterly results and warning supply chain issues will cost the company millions. For the third-quarter, Gap missed expectations for EPS at US$0.27/share on revenue of US$3.94bn and revised full year guidance due to ?acute revenue and margin impacts from supply chain disruptions?.
And Collins Dictionary has hailed ?NFT? as the word of the year for 2021 amid the skyrocketing popularity of non-fungible tokens this year.