US markets snapped their winning streak overnight, the Nasdaq falling 1%, S&P 500 down 0.5% and Dow Jones 0.4% with little in the way of news being released to start the week.
Reporting season is set to ramp up with unemployment figures scheduled for later in the week.
Concern is growing about the global COVID case count, which hit a daily record of 5.2 million on Monday, driven primarily by India and Brazil, increasing concerns that new variants may emerge.
Bitcoin tumbles amid regulation
As the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) IPO settles post-listing, the Bitcoin price tumbled by around 15% overnight as investment banks push for greater regulation of the popular digital asset. Coinbase stock finished the session 2.6% lower.
Tesla stock falls
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares fell 3.4% after it was reported a car with ‘no one’ driving crashed and killed its passengers in the US, opening the threat of more regulation.
IBM posts rare revenue growth
IBM (NYSE: IBM) reported its first quarterly revenue increase since 2018, seeing sales rise 1% on 2020 levels to US$17.7 billion.
The company is seeking to pivot towards cloud software and AI, allowing customers to access the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) through its platform.
Thus far, the move seems to be paying off with total cloud revenue increasing 21% during the quarter.
Big movers and shakers
Here’s how other popular US stocks fared overnight:
- Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) up 1.5%
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) up 0.5%
- Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) up 0.3%
- Mastercard (NYSE: MA) down 1.0%
- Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) down 1.3%
- Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) down 5.1%
- Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) down 5.3%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow US markets lower at the open on Tuesday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s daily ASX 200 report.
