US equity markets retreated following some weak consumer confidence data, and as oil prices climbed for a third day - Dow down -491-points or -1.56%, The broader S&P500 shed -2.01%, with Consumer Discretionary (down -4.03%) and Information Technology (-3.01%) leading ten of the eleven primary sectors lower. Energy sat atop the primary sector leaderboard for a second consecutive session with a +2.70% gain. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it had acquired an additional 794,389 shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp (up +4.77%), lifting the conglomerate’s stake to ~16.4%. The Nasdaq dropped -2.98%. Qualcomm Inc (up +3.48%) bucked the weaker trend after a prominent analyst (Ming-Chi Kuo at TF International Securities) said Apple Inc (-2.98%) is likely to use the company’s 5G modems for its 2023 iPhones rather that relying on technology built in-house. All three benchmark indices booked their worst daily percentage declines since 16 June, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -0.49%.