Rising Treasury yields have investors cautious despite positive news from the earnings season.
The yield on the long-dated 30-year Treasury bond has surged to 4.79%. It’s on track to close at the highest level since early November, ahead of crucial economic data on Thursday.
The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) fell 0.9%, extending its year-to-date drop to 10%.
Rising yields are propelling the greenback higher, particularly against the low-yielding Japanese yen which tumbled to past 155 per dollar, hitting the lowest level since June 1990.
Tesla Inc. posted lower-than-expected results last quarter, but shares rose 10%. Investors reacted to the automaker’s pledge to produce more affordable models to broaden the market.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4% by midday trading in New York; the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 managed to hold steady; and small caps saw wider declines, with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) down 1%.
Gold remains unchanged, while oil prices edged up by 0.5%, despite the Energy Information Administration revealing a 6.368 million barrel drop in crude oil inventories last week, significantly below market expectations of a 1.6 million barrel increase.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 2.7% to $64,500 amid waning sentiment towards riskier assets.
Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| Nasdaq 100 | 17,470.46 | 0.0% |
| Dow Jones | 38,334.54 | -0.4% |
| S&P 500 | 5,048.09 | -0.4% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,983.56 | -1.0% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:QQQ) inched 0.1% lower to $424.43, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI) was the major laggard, down 1.5%.
Wednesday’s Stock Movers
- Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN) rose 6.5%, after beating both earnings and revenue estimates last quarter.
- Other companies reacting to earnings were Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HLT) (up 4.3%).
- Notable names reporting after the close are Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:CMG).
