Stocks drift lower while yields continue to ease

Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Tuesday, giving back some of their big gains from a day earlier.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% after earlier flipping between small gains and losses. A day before, the benchmark index had leaped 2.4% for its best performance since June. Technology and internet stocks accounted for much of the selling, a reversal from a day earlier.

The S&P 500 fell 31.53 points to 3,870.29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 143.99 points, or 0.5%, to 31,391.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 230.04 points, or 1.7%, to 13,358.79.

Smaller companies fared worse than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 small-cap index gave up 43.81 points, or 1.9%, to 2,231.51.

Treasury yields have been climbing with expectations for economic growth and inflation, and such a rise makes borrowing more expensive for homebuyers, companies taking out loans and virtually everyone else. That can slow economic growth.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased a bit Tuesday, falling to 1.41% from 1.44% late Monday. It’s a reprieve following weeks of relentless rising. The 10-year yield had crossed above 1.50% last week, up from roughly 0.90% at the start of the year, and the zoom higher raised worries that more increases would destabilize the market.

Tuesday’s modest moves may prove short-lived. Several speeches and data reports this week could offer more light on the direction of interest rates.

On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard sought to calm financial markets by emphasizing that the Fed, while generally optimistic about the economy, is still far from raising interest rates or reducing its $120 billion a month in asset purchases.