Stocks Slide as 30-Year Yields Hit 19-Year Highs: What's Driving the Sell-Off
MarketDash
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as long-term Treasury yields surged to levels not seen since 2007, chipmakers tumbled, and the Iran standoff kept oil above $103. Here's what moved markets.
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U.S. stocks extended losses by midday Tuesday as a fresh Treasury rout pushed long-dated yields to multi-decade highs and a crowded chipmaker trade unwound, with investors growing impatient over the unresolved U.S.–Iran standoff that has kept oil prices elevated and inflation expectations sticky.
President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday morning that a decision on Iran was still days away, saying "we're not leaving Iran yet, we're going to do it right" and that the timeline could stretch "two to three days, maybe until early next week."
The open-ended timeline kept a bid under oil while feeding into a brutal long-end Treasury sell-off.
The yield on the 30-year bond climbed 6 basis points to 5.18%, its highest since 2007, while the 10-year jumped 8 basis points to 4.67%, a 16-month peak.
The 2-year yield rose 7 basis points to 4.13% as traders priced in the possibility that the Federal Reserve has room to hike rates this year.
Across U.S. equity markets by midday Tuesday, losses were broad-based and led by mega-cap tech and small caps.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 7,355, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 261 points, or 0.5%, to 49,425.
The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1% to 28,703, eyeing its third straight session of declines as the AI infrastructure trade extended its pullback.
The Russell 2000 was the day's worst major benchmark, sliding 1.3% to 2,740 as small caps caught the brunt of the yield move.
Spot gold pared its recent rebound, falling 1.4% to $4,503 an ounce and extending its month-to-date decline to roughly 6.6%, with the precious metal falling amid rising yields and a stronger dollar.
Home Depot Inc. (HD) rose 0.8% after beating Street's estimates with a first-quarter EPS of $3.43 versus $3.41 expected and revenue of $41.77 billion versus $41.54 billion consensus.
Bucking the move, Marvell Technology Inc. (MRVL) rallied 6.6% after Evercore ISI raised its price target to $155 from $133 and Melius Research hiked its target to $220 from $140 ahead of MRVL's May 27 earnings print, while Astera Labs Inc. (ALAB) jumped 10% on the back of fresh price-target hikes — JPMorgan to $280, RBC Capital to $270, Roth Capital to $275 — and a high-profile presentation at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston.
Defensive consumer names caught a bid. Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (SFM) rallied 6.3% as Bank of America's May 13 price-target lift to $100 continued to fuel positive momentum into the natural-grocer's 2026 store-expansion plan. Kroger Co. (KR) climbed 4.2% in sympathy.
On the losing side, Rocket Lab Corp. (RKLB) dropped 7% in what looks like profit-taking after the space company set a May 14 all-time high of $133.18 and surged 34% on its blowout first quarter print earlier this month — as no fresh corporate news hit Tuesday.
