• The Nasdaq fell 1.23% on Monday to close at 14,981 points.
• Tesla fell 3.5% on Monday after Australia issued a recall for 106 vehicles.
• Nike shares rallied after-hours following the release of strong Q2 results.

The US markets started the week in negative territory as investors fear that the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 could cause renewed lockdowns during the busy holiday season and derail economic recovery around the world.

The Dow Jones fell 1.23% to finish the trading day down 433 points to close at 34,932 points .

The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 1.24% to finish the trading day down 189 points to close at 14,981 points

One bitcoin is worth US$46,908 going into the Asian trading day.

The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 71.07 US cents.

Tesla shares took a hit on Monday amid a recall in Australia and a neutral rating from Guggenheim investment bank. Australia’s Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications has announced the recall of 106 Tesla Model 3 sedans manufactured between 2019 and 2021 due to a fastener attaching the ‘front suspension lateral link to the sub-frame’ having the potential to loosen overtime and affect vehicle controllability.

Shares in athletic apparel and equipment giant Nike rallied 3.5% after-hours following the release of second-quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations. For the period, Nike reported EPS of 83 US cents/share compared to the 63 US cents/share expectation, on revenue of US$11.36bn compared to the expected US$11.25bn. Nike CEO John Donahoe said the athletic apparel giant is in a ‘much stronger competitive position now’ than it was during the pandemic.

And basketball icon Michael Jordan is joining the NFT market through the launch of an athlete-focused NFT platform called Heir in 2022.