US equity markets opened 2021 with sharp falls, with the Dow and S&P500 retreating from record highs set on the final session of 2020 - Dow dropped -383-points or -1.25%, paring an earlier decline of as much as -700-points or -2.7%. It marked the first negative start to a new year for the Dow since 2016. Coca-Cola and Boeing were the worst-performing Dow components, falling -3.8% and -5.3%, respectively. The broader S&P500 lost -1.48%. Both the Dow and S&P 500 hit record intra-day highs in opening trading (of 30,674.28 and 3,769.99 respectively) before turning lower. The Nasdaq shed -1.47%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is reportedly going to announce a 2021 capital expenditure plan of US$22 billion, ~10% higher than previously estimated, at an event on Thursday (7 January), according to Taiwanese media reports. TSMC acts as a manufacturer for major chip companies like Advanced Micro Devices Inc (up +0.6%) and Nvidia Corp (+0.5%) that do not have their own fabrication plants. Companies that supply the materials and make the equipment that manufacturers like TSMC use saw their shares rise, including Lam Research Corp (up +1.2%), KLA Corp (+0.6%), Applied Materials Inc +0.7% and U.S-listed shares of ASML Holding NV (+2.5%). Intel Corp slipped -0.3%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index fell -1.47%.