US equity markets retreated as stronger-than-expected producer prices undermined an early rally, and with some major chipmakers recording fresh declines - Dow eased -138-points or -0.35%, with Amgen Inc (down -1.61%), Honeywell International (-1.69%), International Business Machines (IBM) Corp (-1.66%) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (-1.78%) all falling over >1.5%.