Technology sector leads stock market lower; bond yields rise

Declines in technology stocks are dragging the broader market lower Tuesday as investors remain increasingly focused on a big tick up in bond yields and what it means for the overall market. Major indexes pared a good part of an early slump by the afternoon.
The S&P 500 index was down 0.3% as of 2:47 p.m. Eastern after being down more than 1.8% earlier. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 1.3% after being down 3.9% earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less exposed to tech stocks than the two other indexes, was down 40 points, or just 0.1%, to 31,477.
The companies that were dragging down the overall market were the big tech names that had pushed the market significantly higher the past year: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Tesla. Since the pandemic began, investors consistently pushed the prices of these companies’ stocks to stratospheric heights, betting that quarantined consumers would do most of their shopping online and spend money on devices and services for entertainment.