Investing.com - Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday, as worry over rising bond yields offset a surge in corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 was down over 21 points or 0.81% to 2,612.12 as of 9:45 AM ET (13:45 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 200 points or 0.83% to 23,823.70 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell 55 points or 0.79% to 6,951.73.
Bond yields have risen to their highest levels in four years, as inflation has added to expectations of continued rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Yields continued to rise on Wednesday, with the yield on the benchmark United States 10-Year Treasury note to 3.009. The United States 2-Year note rose to 2.488, a level not seen since 2008.
A rise in bond yields could lead to a fall in equities, as the increase in yields dampans investor appetite for riskier assets.
Investors seemed unmoved by earnings reports before the morning bell. Boeing (NYSE:BA) was among the biggest gainers, rising 1.31% after its earnings came in higher than expected. Twitter rose 0.71% after its first-quarter results beating expectations.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) , AT&T (NYSE:T), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) are just a few of the firms expected to post earnings after the market close.
Meanwhile, technology stocks were down, with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) down 1.58%, Facebook falling 0.38% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) decreasing 0.33%. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) dipped 1.39% while AMD slumped 4.29%.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 195 points or 1.55% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 50 points or 0.96% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 85 points or 1.15%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 fell 40 points or 1.14% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 71 points or 0.72%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.71% to $1,323.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.07% to $67.75 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.33% to 90.86.