U.S. stocks trade mixed as 10-year treasury yield fluctuates

NEW YORK (UPI) — U.S. stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as the 10-year treasury yield fluctuated, sending tech stocks lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 90.73 points, or 0.26%, and the S&P 500 gained 0.16%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite lagged behind, falling 0.24%.

The NASDAQ opened up about 0.5% after dropping 2.8% on Tuesday as the 10-year treasury yield fell below 1.5% but bounced back above 1.54% in the afternoon.

Netflix stock gained 2.61% and Apple stock increased 0.65%, while Google’s parent company, Alphabet, saw shares fall 1.09%, and Amazon stock dropped 0.45% as they failed to rally.

“A lot of Big Tech is overpriced,” Teddy Parrish, CEO and chief investment officer of Parrish Capital, told Yahoo Finance. “Those valuations are going to have to go a little lower in one or two ways: They either sell off, or earnings continue to go up and the stocks trade sideways. You can have a little of both, but to look at some of these larger tech companies that aren’t growing nearly as fast as their [price-to-earnings] multiples might imply, I think that a lot of them are ahead of themselves.”

Discount retailer Dollar Tree saw stocks rise 16.49% to lead the S&P as the company announced it would increase stock buybacks and experiment with higher prices at some locations, while Boeing rose 3.18% to lead the Dow.

Investors have also been closely monitoring efforts in Washington, D.C., for lawmakers to pass a bill to extend the debt ceiling as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the ceiling must be raised or suspended by Oct. 18.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the upper chamber could vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government later on Wednesday, or possibly Thursday, while the House was preparing to vote on a bill to suspend the debt ceiling.

Reporting by Daniel Uria