- The Nasdaq fell 0.96% to close Friday?s session at 14,936 points.
- GameStop soared as much as 20% on Friday after announcing NFT platform plans.
- Moderna shares dipped as US Supreme Court weighed up Biden?s workplace vaccine mandate.
The US markets extended the losing run into Friday, closing the last trading session of the week lower across the three key indices as investors continued to sell-out of growth stocks like technology amid fears that the Fed will raise interest rates sooner than expected.
Investors were also spooked by jobs data out on Friday showing US employers added just 199,000 jobs in December, which was about half of what economists had expected, and was a big dive from the 249,000 created in November.
The Dow Jones fell 0.013% to finish the trading day down 4.81 points to close at 36,231.66 points.
The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 0.96% to finish the trading day down 145 points to close at 14,936 points
One bitcoin is worth US$42,219 going into the Asian trading day.
The Australian dollar is firm against the major currencies and is buying 71.82 US cents.
GameStop shares defied the tech sell-off to close 7.34% higher on Friday after the gaming retailer announced plans to create a marketplace for NFTs. NFT investors shared excitement for the GameStop NFT platform plans, with one saying ?GameStop is in a very unique position, because a lot of these NFT projects are starting to add gaming utility behind the NFTs themselves?.
Shares in biotech company Moderna dipped 1% on Friday after the Supreme Court assessed whether vaccine-mandates from the Biden administration for large businesses over 100 employees and healthcare facilities can go ahead. Majority of the conservative judges were sympathetic to business interests while liberal justices backed the mandate amid the surge in COVID-19 infections across the US. While Moderna remains as a go-to vaccine for many countries around the world, rejection of the mandate will hurt sales for the biotech company in 2022.
And TikTokers are now using Apple?s iPod shuffle as a hair-clip 15-years after the music listening device was the must-have product for all teenagers.