A sell-off in technology firms has pulled down the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes as employers hired fewer people than expected last month.
"Today is the perfect encapsulation of the big theme we've been seeing in the past couple of months," Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield said. While the vaccine distribution is expected to help the economy, data showed US private employers put on fewer workers than expected in February, suggesting the labour market was struggling to regain speed.
Rising interest rates disproportionately hurt high-growth tech companies because investors value them based on earnings expected years into the future, and high interest rates hurt the value of future earnings more than the value of earnings made in the short term.