The 10-year yield fell to about 1.6%, a slide that in recent days had propped up tech stocks that rely on low-cost capital. Value-oriented shares on Wednesday closed flat, outpacing a 1.4% decline in growth stocks, which include tech shares.
Adding to an upward bias for most of the session was data showing U.S. factory activity picked up in early March amid strong growth in new orders. But supply chain disruptions continued to exert cost pressures on manufacturers, keeping inflation fears in focus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.09 points, or 0.01%, to 32,420.06. The S&P 500 lost 21.38 points, or 0.55%, to 3,889.14 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 265.81 points, or 2.01%, to 12,961.89.Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.72 billion shares, compared with the 14.0 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor dropped 5.2%, while semiconductor equipment makers Lam Research Corp, Applied Materials Inc and ASML Holding rose. Applied Materials was the third-biggest boost on the S&P 500, after oil giants Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp.