Dow drops 400 points Tuesday as rising Treasury yields rattle Wall Street: Live updates

Stocks fell Tuesday as traders kept an eye on rising Treasury yields, which hit a 16-year high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 446 points, or 1.5%. The S&P 500 slid 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.3%.

Stocks moved to their lows of the session as yields spiked further following the release of the August job openings survey, which signaled a still tight jobs market. The survey showed 9.6 million open roles in the month. Meanwhile, economists polled by Dow Jones had anticipated 8.8 million jobs.

The S&P 500 fell to its lowest level since the start of June. Veralto and spice manufacturer McCormick & Company led the broad market index’s losses on Tuesday, with both stocks down 9% and more. Cruise company Carnival declined by 6.3%, followed by Airbnb and Viatris both down more than 5%.

The 10-year Treasury yield last traded at 4.787%, reaching its highest level since 2007. The benchmark yield has surged in the past month, as traders assess the possibility of tighter Federal Reserve for longer. The 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.891%, the highest level since Oct. 17, 2007.

Investors have been fretting recently over the potential of higher rates for longer, fearing that tighter monetary policy could tip the economy into a recession. This has pushed Treasury yields to levels not seen in more than a decade.

The rise in yields poses “a major headwind to equities,” according to Alex McGrath, chief investment officer at NorthEnd Private Wealth. “Unless that stays flat or starts moving backwards, it’s just going to be a major headwind to equities across the board going through the end of the year,” McGrath said.

Calamos Investments portfolio specialist Joseph Cusick noted that “Higher rates don’t necessarily have to be bad for the stock market, especially if they are associated with more robust economic activity that is good for earnings prospects.”

“However, higher rates become more problematic for the stock market when they become the basis for safety trades in an uncertain environment,” Cusick added.

Wall Street is coming off a mixed session, after lawmakers in Washington arrived at a short-term agreement over the weekend that headed off a government shutdown.

That means key economic reports — such as last month’s payroll reports, due Friday — and the kick off of earnings reporting season next week are back in focus.