Wall Street stocks edged down early Thursday as the market struggled to extend the prior session’s uptick while monitoring Treasury yields.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note – which hit a 16-year peak on Tuesday but retreated on Wednesday – was essentially unchanged.
Treasury bond yields are seen as a proxy for US interest rates, and the surge in yields has rattled investors worried that the Federal Reserve will keep rates elevated for longer.
LBBW’s Karl Haeling described investors as “on the fence” after big moves in other markets Wednesday in treasuries and crude oil.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 33,074.39.
The broad-based S&P 500 also dropped 0.2 percent to 4,255.09, along with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which was at 13,209.86.
US indices rose Wednesday after Treasury yields pulled back, winning back some of Tuesday’s losses of more than one percent.
“The equity market is in a major hesitation phase right now, trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the world,” Haeling said.
