The first trading day of 2022 resulted in a historic day for the U.S. stock market as Apple became the first company in history to reach a valuation of $3T. The tech giant crossed the market cap milestone in afternoon trading, with shares climbing nearly 3% to $182.88 apiece. Lifting investor confidence was the belief that Apple will keep launching best-selling products as it explores new markets like self-driving electric cars, augmented-reality glasses and possibly the Metaverse. The only other company that is currently in Apple's market cap ballpark is Microsoft, which has a valuation of $2.5T.

A federal jury late Monday convicted disgraced former Therano CEO Elizabeth Holmes on four of 11 counts that her once-hot biotech startup swindled investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The failed blood-testing firm was worth about $9B at its peak, reportedly giving Holmes a $4.5B net worth at the time, but was dissolved in 2018 after facing regulatory investigations.

Hedge funds gained 8.7 per cent on average during 2021, according to data provider HFR. That marks their third consecutive year of gains, but trails by some distance the US S&P 500 index’s 27 per cent total return over that period.