US equity markets settled with modest declines in what was a largely uneventful session – Dow -104-points or -0.31% a day after logging its 17th record closing high (33,171.37) of 2021. Apple Inc (down -1.23%) and Microsoft Corp (-1.44%) were the worst performing Dow constituents. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (up +2%) and Morgan Stanley (+1.6%) advanced, with both banks moving large blocks of assets before other large banks that lent to Archegos Capital Management, as the scale of the hedge fund’s losses became apparent, according to The Wall Street Journal, helping to limit their losses amid the stock liquidation. The broader S&P500 -0.32%, with Consumer Staples (down -1.14%) and Information Technology (-0.95%) leading eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. Consumer Discretionary (up +0.75%) and Financials (+0.71%) were the leading primary sector performers. Classic re-opening plays rallied after the release of strong consumer confidence data. American Airlines Group Inc jumped +528%, United Airlines Holdings +3.58%. Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd climbed +3.98% and +3.78% respectively. Wells Fargo & Co rose +2.5% after the lender said it had a prime brokerage relationship with Archegos Capital and that it no longer had any exposure and did not experience any losses. PayPal Holdings Inc added +0.4% after the payments company said it would start letting U.S. customers purchase items with cryptocurrencies. The Nasdaq dipped -0.06%, paring an earlier decline of over >1%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index rebounded +1.72%.