S&P 500 deepens losses as rising Treasury yields blunt tech

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 slipped further Monday, as rising Treasury yields continued to keep tech in the firing line just as worries about a Federal Reserve-fueled recession persist.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, or 258 points, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.8%. 

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) led the drop in big tech, falling more than 3% after landing in regulatory trouble.

The European Union charged Meta with antitrust violations for limiting competition in the markets for online classified ads. If found guilty, Meta faces a fine of up to $11.8 billion.

Sentiment on tech was also soured by an ongoing rise in Treasury yields as investors priced in higher for longer interest rates following the Fed's rate hike and messaging of higher for longer rates.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) were down about 2% adding to their losses from a week earlier.

Consumer discretionary was dragged lower by casino and travel stocks as China faces a fresh wave of COVID after recently abandoning its zero-COVID policy and lifting restrictions.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), and Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) were down sharply, with latter shedding about 6%.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), meanwhile, turned negative erasing its intraday climb amid expectations that Elon Musk would step down from Twitter, paving the way for more focus on Tesla.

Twitter users voted in a poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive of Twitter. Ahead of the results of the poll, Musk pledged to honor the result of the poll.

“With the poll closing this morning, it appears Musk's reign as CEO of Twitter will come to end and thus be a major positive for Tesla's stock starting to slowly remove this albatross from the story,” Wedbush said in a note.

Disney (NYSE:DIS), a major Dow component, fell 4% after its “Avatar: The Way of the Water” took in $134M in sales at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, missing expectations for a range of $135M to $150M.