U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Lower Amid Increase In Treasury Yields

Stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of morning trading on Tuesday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. With the drop on the day, the Dow is pulling back off yesterday’s record closing high.

The major averages have seen further downside in recent trading, falling to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 115.96 points or 0.4 percent at 33,055.41, the Nasdaq is down 133.38 points or 1 percent at 12,926.26 and the S&P 500 is down 25.08 points or 0.6 percent at 3,946.01.

Technology stocks have helped to lead the way lower on the day, resulting in the notable decline by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

The weakness among tech stocks comes amid a continued increase by treasury yields, with the yield on the ten-year note reaching its highest levels in over a year.

Treasury yields are moving higher amid optimism about the coronavirus vaccine rollouts and the economy reopening as well as President Joe Biden’s soon to be announced infrastructure plan.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence skyrocketed by much more than anticipated in the month of March.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index spiked to 109.7 in March from a downwardly revised 90.4 in February.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to climb to 96.0 from the 91.3 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected increase, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020.

Gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, moving sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal.

With gold for June delivery plunging $31.50 to $1,683.10 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has tumbled by 2.6 percent.

Software and networking stocks are also seeing considerable weakness on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index and the NYSE Arca Networking Index slumping by 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, airline stocks have moved sharply higher on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 2.6 percent. Banking stocks are also bucking the downtrend.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the steep drop seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.2 basis points at 1.753 percent.

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