12:23 PM EDT, 03/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes traded mixed after midday Wednesday as heavyweight technology names retreated while government bond yields rose.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 5,168.1, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.6% to 16,172.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the intraday trend, trading up 0.4% to 39,163.6. Apart from technology, all other sectors rose intraday. Communication services and consumer discretionary were, still, among the slowest gainers.

In the short run, equity valuations are stretched, especially for sectors such as information technology, communication services, and consumer discretionary, according to a note from the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "But valuations alone are not a good timing mechanism. Fairly recent history [1999-2000] shows that the market can push valuations to even greater extremes before a meaningful pullback occurs."

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) slumped 3.8% intraday, with Nvidia (NVDA) down 3% and Broadcom (AVGO) 2.5% lower, the worst performers in the technology sector.

Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yield rose 3.5 basis points to 4.19%, and the two-year advanced one basis point to 4.61%.

Investors are waiting on a range of economic data, including producer prices and retail sales on Thursday, to gauge the Federal Reserve's approach to interest-rate cuts, D.A. Davidson said in a research note.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 2% to $79.05 per barrel intraday.

In company news, Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) swung to an unexpected fiscal fourth-quarter net loss, weighed down by charges related to a review of its stores portfolio, and issued a downbeat profit outlook for the current three-month period. The discount retailer sank 15% intraday, the steepest share-price drop on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.