S&P Falls More than 1% on Higher Bond Yields - InvestingChannel

S&P Falls More than 1% on Higher Bond Yields



Tech stocks dragged down the S&P 500 on Wednesday amid rising bond yields, while names tied to an economic recovery provided the market with some support.

The Dow Jones Industrials ended a topsy-turvy day by losing 121.43 points to conclude trading Wednesday at 31,270.09.

The S&P 500 dumped 50.57 points, or 1.3%, to 3,819.72, weighed by tech and consumer discretionary issues.

The NASDAQ Composite swooned 361.03 points, or 2.7%, to 12,997.75, as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet all dropped more than 2%. Netflix shed 5%

Growing optimism over the vaccine rollout sparked a rally in cyclical stocks and reopening plays. American Airlines popped 3.4%, while Carnival acquired 3.9% and Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 6.3%. The energy sector rose 1.4%.

President Joe Biden said late Tuesday that the U.S. will have a large enough supply of coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May. That would be two months ahead of schedule. The vaccine rollout is seen as key part in getting Americans back to work and for the economy to recover.

On the data front, private companies added 117,000 new jobs in February, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 225,000 private jobs were added last month.

Meanwhile, the pace of growth in the services side of the U.S. economy decelerated in February. The Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index showed a reading of 55.3 for last month, down 3.4 percentage points from January and below the 58.7 Dow Jones estimate.

Prices for 10-Year Treasurys thundered lower, raising yields to 1.47% from Tuesday’s 1.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices jumped $1.48 to $61.23 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dropped $20.50 to $1,713.10.