Fresh concerns about the potentially damaging economic effect of the Omicron coronavirus variant and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dragged US equity markets lower - Dow dropped -652-points or -1.86%, with American Express Co (-3.52%) and Salesforce.Com Inc (-3.97%) among the key drags on the index. The broader S&P500 -1.90%. Communication Services (down -3%) led all eleven primary sectors lower, with eight primary sectors logging falls of over >2%. Mastercard Inc (down -2.50%) announced after the closing bell that its directors authorized an +11% dividend increase (to US$0.49c per share) and an US$8B share buyback program. The technology-centric Nasdaq lost -1.55%. Amazon.com Inc (down -1.53%) is reportedly working on custom silicon chips for its hardware network switches to take on Intel Corp (-1.60%) and Nvidia Corp (-2.10%). according to Reuters. The chips, which could help Amazon improve its internal infrastructure as well as AWS, are said to be the result of Amazon’s US$350M acquisition of Israeli chipmaking firm Annapurna Labs back in 2015. Microsoft Corp hosted their Annual General Meeting overnight. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 fell -1.92%.