The US market snapped six-day winning streak on Tuesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 weighed down by a steep loss for Walmart as investors also watched climbing bond yields, which could make equities less attractive at current levels. A renewed push higher for US bond yields - with the dollar also stronger - was being blamed for the market’s weakness. Climbing bond yields - reflecting rising inflation worries - were the spark that set off the market meltdown earlier this month. Some of the US government’s short-term borrowing costs rose to their highest level in more than nine years as the government raised $179 billion in the Treasury securities market to fund spending and make debt payments. Tuesday’s auctions made up more than half of the $258 billion in Treasury debt supply scheduled for sale this week, which is projected to raise nearly $48 billion in new cash for the government. Wednesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting, the last chaired by Janet Yellen, will be combed for clues to the central bank’s thinking on interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 254.63 points or 1.01 percent to 24,964.75, Nasdaq was down by 5.157 points or 0.07 percent to 7,234.31, and S&P 500 dropped 15.96 points or 0.58 percent to 2,716.26.
