US Treasury Yields Hit 19-Year High Amid Market Selloff

U.S. Treasury yields surged to their highest level in nearly 19 years on Wednesday (Sept. 23), contributing to a broad market selloff that saw all four major U.S. stock indexes fall into negative territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 352.10 points, or 0.68%, at 51,511.59; the S&P 500 Index fell 0.75% to 7,706.03; the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.13% to 26,936.04; and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slid 1.23% to 12,534.28.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) were among the largest drags on the broader market, with Alphabet shares plummeting 3.8%. Memory chip names also faced profit-taking pressure, with Micron and SanDisk sliding more than 2% to nearly 4% respectively.

Rising Treasury yields weakened high-valuation assets such as technology stocks, which bore the heaviest selling pressure in the market. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's hardline speech at the U.N. General Assembly further heightened Middle East tensions and contributed to rising oil prices.