- The Nasdaq closed 0.94% lower at 13,818 on Thursday.
- Snap Inc. surged on strong Q1 performance exceeding expectations.
- KnowBe4 Inc. surged 50% on Wall Street debut as tech IPOs continue.
The US markets slumped on Thursday across the three key indices following reports that President Biden is set to hike capital gains tax on wealthy Americans from the current 20% to near 36%.
The Dow Jones fell 0.94% to finish the trading day down 321 points to close at 33,816 points.
The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 0.94% to finish the trading day down 132 points to close at 13,818 points.
One bitcoin is worth US$51,702 going into the Asian trading day, down more than 4% in the last 24-hours.
The Australian dollar is firm against the major currencies and is buying 77.04 US cents.
Social media giant Snap Inc. soared 6% on Thursday after reporting first-quarter results exceeding analyst expectations, boosted by digital advertising campaigns. Snap?s revenue surged to US$770m, compared to the estimated US$743.8m and the Global Daily Active Users topped 280m compared to the estimate of 274m.
Cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 Inc made a solid Wall Street debut on Thursday opening the day at US$19.95/share, above its US$16/share IPO, and closing the session at US$24.14/share up 50.87%.
FitBit now tracks a user?s stress levels using heart rate, physical activity levels and sleep data. FitBit gives a ?stress? score in addition to tracking electrodermal activity to check for ?fight or flight? responses.