US Equity Indexes Decline With Treasury Yields in Midday Trading

US equity indexes fell with government bond yields after midday on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% to 4,964.6, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2% to 38,538.1 and the Nasdaq Composite 1.4% lower at 15,552.2. All sectors, except consumer staples and utilities, were in the red intraday.

Nvidia's NVDA shares fell 6% intraday, among the laggards on the Nasdaq, ahead of the chipmaker's fiscal Q4 results Wednesday. "We reiterate Buy/top pick ahead of NVDA Feb-21 earnings but won't be surprised to see a notable but brief pullback after the recent parabolic run-up in the stock," BofA Securities said.

Meanwhile, Discover Financial Services DFS shares surged 14.1% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500, after Capital One Financial COF agreed to acquire the company in an all-stock deal worth $35.3 billion, the companies said Monday.

Further, in company news, Walmart WMT delivered higher-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results, buoyed by revenue growth across all its three segments. Additionally, the retail giant agreed to buy Vizio VZIO, a smart TV manufacturer, for about $2.3 billion. Shares of Walmart jumped 3.5% intraday, the biggest gainer on the Dow.

In economic news, the Conference Board's measure of leading indicators fell 0.4% in January, below expectations for a 0.3% decrease in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a 0.2% decline in December. Over the past 12 months, the index fell 7%, Stifel said in a note.

Online retail sales rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis in Q4 after increasing 1.8% in the prior quarter and were up 7.5% from a year earlier, the US Census Bureau reported. The year-over-year increase was faster than the 2.8% gain in total retail sales over the same period.

The US 10-year Treasury yield slid 3.5 basis points to 4.26%, and the two-year rate declined 5.9 basis points to 4.6%.

Macroeconomic data due this week will see investors parsing Wednesday the latest Federal Open Market Committee minutes. "FOMC minutes will tease us about potential [quantitative tightening] and policy rate guidance but won't do anything concrete and the dialogue may even be stale on arrival at least in some respects," Scotiabank said in a note.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.2% to $79.37 per barrel.

Gold was up 0.7% to $2,038.21 per troy ounce, while silver slumped 1.6% to $23.11.