Stocks losing streak continues

Stocks tumbled as a rout in the shares of industrial and technology companies sent indexes spiraling lower amid a raft of earnings and renewed selling in the bull market’s biggest winners. The 10-year Treasury yield pierced 3 percent for the first time in four years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a fifth day, the longest losing streak since March 2017. The sell off accelerated after industrial bellwether Caterpillar Inc. said that the first quarter was its “high water mark” for the year. The Nasdaq 100 Index slumped 2.1 percent, with Alphabet Inc.’s rise in capital spending sending its shares lower 4.5 percent.

Investors also focused on the rising 10-year yield and its implications for other assets. The dollar weakened after hitting the highest since January, while crude slipped back toward $67 a barrel. Gold rallied.

“All of a sudden, rates are pushing 3 percent,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. “If rates start to normalize, so is your stock valuation. And I think that’s increasingly what the market is starting to be looking at.”

Investors are weighing the implications of climbing bond yields that have been spurred in part by higher commodity prices and concern surrounding their inflationary impact on the wider economy. But volatility in interest-rate markets remains low and equity price swings are well off the highs seen earlier this year, indicating investors believe rising borrowing costs may not be enough to cause outsized pain to equities — until now.

Elsewhere, aluminum extended its biggest slump since 2005 after the U.S. signaled Monday it may lift United Co. Rusal sanctions if Oleg Deripaska divests control of the company. Rusal shares in Hong Kong posted their biggest-ever gain.