Stock market today: Wall Street falls as the vise tightens from rising yields in the bond market
U.S. stocks are slipping as the clamps tighten on Wall Street from rising yields in the bond market
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are slipping Thursday as the clamps tighten on Wall Street from rising yields in the bond market.
The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in afternoon trading and on track to break a four-day winning streak, its longest since August.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 204 points, or 0.6%, as of 3 pm. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.
The stock market has largely been taking its cue from the bond market recently, and weak results announced in the afternoon for an auction of 30-year Treasury bonds sent yields of all kinds of Treasurys higher. Higher yields can knock down prices for stocks, all else equal, and slow the economy by making borrowing more expensive.
Yields had already been on the rise in the morning following a report that showed inflation at the consumer level was a touch higher last month than economists expected. That raises worries about the Federal Reserve keeping its main interest rate high for a long time, as it tries to undercut inflation by knocking down investment prices and slowing the economy.
The inflation report, though, also had some encouraging nuggets for financial markets underneath the surface. After ignoring prices for food and fuel, which Fed officials see as a better predictor of where inflation is heading, prices that consumers had to pay last month were in line with expectations. They also continued to decelerate from earlier months.
A second economic report from the morning likewise offered both encouragement and caution for financial markets. It said slightly fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected. On one hand,
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