Morning Report 14 Dec 21: ASX to open lower as Wall St retreats from record highs

The ASX is set to follow US sharemarkets lower after stocks tumbled on Monday as traders weighed the potential impacts of less generous monetary policy settings amid Omicron Covid-19 challenges and lofty equity valuations. Shares of Tesla were down 5% with Apple (-2.1%) shares whipsawing as it approached a US$3 trillion market value. Travel companies Carnival (-4.9%) and United Airlines (-5.2%) sold-off. But Pfizer shares rose 4.6% as it agreed to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals (+80.4%) for US$6.7 billion. Moderna's shares lifted 5.8% on a White House push for Covid-19 booster shots. At the close of trade, the Dow Jones index fell by 320 points or 0.9% after being down by 361 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 index dipped by 0.9%, down from a record, with the Nasdaq index lower by 217 points or 1.4%.

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