U.S. stocks declined Wednesday after fluctuating between gains and losses, as investors became cautious amid rising bond yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19.42 points, or 0.08 percent, to 24,893.35. The S&P 500 decreased 13.48 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,681.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 63.90 points, or 0.90 percent, to 7,051.98.
Wall Street turned nervous after the country's 10-year treasury yield climbed to a multi-year high, amid fears that rising inflation could send interest rates higher.
Societe Generale said in a report Wednesday that it sees a clear chain of causality in the recent stock market sell-off: global risk sentiment is driven by U.S. equities, U.S. equities are driven by U.S. bond yields and U.S. to a significant degree by core eurozone yields.
"It will likely take some consolidation in the rates space and particularly of eurozone yields to see a stabilization in the equity space," said the report.
Political uncertainties might also pressure the market to some extent, as a partial shutdown of the federal government lies ahead if lawmakers don't agree on spending measures by midnight Thursday.
In corporate news, shares of Snap Inc. spiked 47.58 percent to 20.75 U.S. dollars apiece after the social network delivered better-than-expected quarterly results late Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Dow traded in an over-1,100 point range throughout the session. It fell more than 500 points at the open, rebounded shortly afterward to a 1 percent gain and then witnessed wild swings before surging more than 600 points in the late trading day.
The wild swing on Tuesday followed a steep sell-off which was considered a "flash crash" in the previous session.
Analyst believed that the recent pullback was not linked to economic fundamentals. Instead, it was a healthy market correction that is welcomed and long overdue.
There is no major economic data due out Wednesday.
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