Stock market today: Live updates

Stocks fell Tuesday as a jump in bond yields threatened the bull market by weighing on the U.S. consumer and undermining the growth of technology stocks.

Traders also kept an eye on the oil market following President Donald Trump’s cancellation of planned attacks on Iran, as well as recent stress on chip stocks.

The S&P 500 slid 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 1.4%. Both benchmarks were headed for their third losing session in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 184 points, or 0.4%.

The bond market has added a new wrinkle to the bull market. The 30-year Treasury yield hit the highest level in nearly 19 years on Tuesday, topping 5.18%. The move in rates comes after a series of reports last week showing inflation was revving back up as the war in Iran lifted oil prices. Higher rates on things like credit cards and mortgages rates could curb consumer spending. Meanwhile, the rate increase could temper long-term economic growth and expose the sky-high valuations seen recently in some chip stocks.

“The bond vigilantes are at play right now,” said Will McGough, Chief Investment Officer at Prime Capital Financial. “Everybody’s on to energy prices staying higher, which could lead into inflation that’s behind the curve a little bit.”

Bond vigilantes are institutional investors who sell off government bonds to signal their disapproval of inflationary U.S. monetary policies.

McGough added that investors could be sending a message that the Federal Reserve is behind the curve on inflation ahead of Kevin Warsh’s swearing in as chairman of the Central Bank on Friday.

“There’s this narrative that new Fed chairmans tend to get tested by the markets,” McGough told CNBC. “You could see the bond vigilantes were obviously testing him here, if you believe that theme.”

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.4% on Tuesday and is down more than 7% in three days as investors take profits on concern about valuation and the sustainability of data center spending. Nvidia, which will report its fiscal first-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, headed for its third-straight decline, down 0.5%. Qualcomm slid more than 3%, and Broadcom pulled back 1.8%.

“This is a well deserved breather after an epic rally,” Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, told CNBC. It’s an “interesting time for the reversal, with it coming just a few trading days before the biggest chip stock in the world reports what will be outstanding earnings and guidance.”

Crude prices were down Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced late Monday that he was calling off a plan to attack Iran after the heads of three regional powers in the Middle East asked him to “hold off.” West Texas Intermediate futures shed 0.4% to $103.81 per barrel in early trading. Brent crude lost 1% to $110.96. Trump’s post also helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recover some losses late in the session Monday, though they still ended lower for a second day in a row.

Stocks had been on a tear before the past few sessions, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh record highs last week, and the Dow briefly recapturing the 50,000 level.