Thursday’s early trade: Main indexes down as tech shares fall, bond yields rise

NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes edged lower on Thursday as heavyweight technology-related stocks remained under pressure with a rise in US Treasury yields, while data showed weekly jobless claims fell more than expected.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit a one-year high of 1.45%, prompting investors to lock in profits on some high-flying growth stocks due to concerns over heightened valuations.

Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Netflix Inc were down between 0.2% and 0.6% in early trading.

The S&P 500 financial sector, which hit a new peak, and energy were the biggest gainers among the 11 major S&P sectors.

The banks index also gained 0.43%, scaling a record high.

The S&P 500 growth index has risen 2.3% in February, sharply underperforming the value index, which has gained 9% on optimism related to a post-pandemic reopening of the economy.

At 9:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 36.71 points, or 0.11%, at 31,925.15, the S&P 500 was down 8.01 points, or 0.20%, at 3,917.42, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 35.34 points, or 0.26%, at 13,562.63.

Tesla Inc fell 1.5% after a media report that the electric-car maker told workers it would temporarily halt some production at its car assembly plant in California. Moderna Inc jumped 8.9% after the drugmaker said it was expecting to post $18.4 billion in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine this year.