Investing.com – Wall Street suffered heavy losses, slumping to a second straight day of losses as rising bond yields spooked investors from increasing their bullish bets on equities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower at 26,077.96. The S&P 500 closed 1.09% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7402.48.50, down 0.86%.
Treasury yields continued to rise, indicating optimism on the outlook of the US economic growth, raising the prospect for a faster pace of rate hikes which some say could curb the recent rally seen in US stocks.
Yet some have argued that while the tightening of rates would reduce the supply of ‘easy’ money available to corporates there were a number of offsetting factors that could support equities including bullish economic growth, tax reform, and ongoing earnings growth.
On the economic front, meanwhile, better-than-expected consumer confidence data adding to narrative of a strong US economy but did little to inspire a reversal in equities.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge rose to 125.4 in January from 122.1 in December, beating economists’ forecast for a reading of 123.1.
The selloff comes as Donald Trump is expected to deliver the State of Union Address later Tuesday amid expectations that the president could pledge to ramp up infrastructure spending which is widely expected to boost fiscal growth.
On the corporate news front, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) turned negative for the year so far amid growing expectations its iPhone X could undershoot Wall Street sales growth forecasts with the hefty price tag highlighted by many as one of the possible factors.
Healthcare, meanwhile, came under heavy selling pressure following an announcement that Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) , Berkshire Hathaway B (NYSE:BRKb) (BRK.A, BRK.B), and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) formed an independent healthcare company.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) rose 0.7%, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) up 0.1%.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) down 4.3%, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) down 3.1%, and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) down 3%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.