March 3 (UPI) — Tech stocks dragged down major U.S. markets for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, while stocks tied to businesses reopening saw a boost.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 121.43 points, or 0.39%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.31% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 2.7% extending losses from Tuesday.
Netflix stock dropped 4.95% to lead the declining tech stocks, while Amazon lost 2.89%, Microsoft fell 2.7%, Google’s parent company Alphabet fell 2.57% and Apple ended the day down 2.45%.
Wednesday’s losses came amid ongoing concerns about the rising 10-year Treasury yield, as the benchmark rate increased eight basis points to a high of 1.49% before declining slightly to end the day.
“One of the fundamental underpinnings of strong equity performance the last six to nine months has been very low yields. And yields are not as low today as they were just a few weeks ago,” AllianceBernstein senior economist Eric Winograd told Yahoo Finance.
Markets also reacted to optimism surrounding business reopening as President Joe Biden pledged that there will be enough COVID-19 vaccines to innoculate every U.S. adult by the end of May.
Additionally, Mississippi and Texas announced plans to repeal statewide mask mandates and reopen businesses at 100% capacity.
Norwegian Cruise Line stock gained 6.25%, Carnival gained 3.88% and American airlines increased 3.4%.
“While the S&P 500 may be facing structural head-winds due to tech weakness, much of the rest of the market is actually doing quite well,” Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report, said according to CNBC. “Overall, most non-tech stocks are weathering the increase in bond yields quite well.”
