US Stocks Fall as Tech Slips, Bond Yields Jump

(AP) -- Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as investors monitor the latest developments around Russia's war against Ukraine and prepare for the next round of corporate report cards.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 10:22 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 80 points, or 0.2%, to 34,841 and the Nasdaq fell 1.5%.

Weakness from big technology stocks weighed down the broader market. Companies in the sector, with their pricey valuations, tend to push the market higher or lower more forcefully. Chipmaker Qualcomm fell 3.3%.

Health care and consumer goods companies made solid gains. Insurer UnitedHealth Group rose 1.9% and Procter & Gamble rose 1.5%.

Twitter rose another 4.9% after disclosing an arrangement with Tesla chief Elon Musk that will give him a board seat but also limit how much of the company he can buy while he's a director. The company had disclosed a day earlier that the mercurial billionaire and Twitter critic had become the company's largest shareholder.

Bond yields rose significantly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.50% from 2.41% late Monday.

Russia's war in Ukraine remains a key focus for Wall Street as the potential for stricter economic sanctions increase. The European Union's executive branch has proposed a ban on coal imports from Russia in what would be the first sanctions targeting the country's lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine.

The Treasury Department will not allow any Russian government debt payments from accounts at U.S. financial institutions to be made in U.S. dollars, restricting one of the strategies President Vladimir Putin is employing to stave off default.

The stricter sanctions follow mounting evidence Russian soldiers deliberately killed civilians during the conflict.

Investors face a mostly quiet week of economic and corporate news. Wall Street is preparing for the next round of corporate earnings in the coming weeks. The results could give a clearer picture of how companies are dealing with the impact from rising inflation.

Wall Street is also still closely monitoring how central banks are reacting to persistently rising inflation. The Federal Reserve has already started raising its benchmark interest rates to temper inflation's impact and more hikes are expected throughout the year.

Investors will be reviewing the minutes from The Fed's March interest-rate meeting when they are released on Wednesday to try and get more details on the central bank's shifting policy to combat inflation.