US equity markets logged modest declines on Friday (21 June) as semiconductor stocks retreated for a second straight session - Dow inched +16-points or +0.04% higher, with Intel Corp (up +1.53%) and Nike Inc (+1.68%) rising over >1.5%. Boeing Co edged +0.15% higher amid reports it was nearing a deal to acquire supplier Spirit AeroSystems (+6%). Apple Inc dropped -1.04%, falling in the final minutes of the session - possibly a byproduct of Friday night AEST’s triple witching (the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts) or a sizeable rebalancing of the US$70B Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (down -1.72%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (-1.19%) were both under pressure after the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve Board on Friday (21 June) said they have found “shortcomings” in the so-called living wills of four of the eight largest U.S. banks. Since the 2008 financial crisis and the Dodd-Frank legislation to shore up the U.S. banking system, big banks have been required to file living wills with regulators to lay out plans for an orderly bankruptcy. Meanwhile, New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog cautioned last Thursday (20 June) that the big US banks face growing spillover risks from non-banks that could trigger "vectors of shock transmission and amplification, forcing authorities to intervene and do so en masse," the post said, adding that the disruptions "could be rather severe."