US stocks retreat in early trade, Nasdaq outperforms

Major US equity indices witnessed a mixed opening on Tuesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 snapping six consecutive days of winning streak.

A fresh wave of an upsurge in the US Treasury bond yields was seen as one of the key factors being some early nervousness in the market. It is worth reporting that the benchmark 10-year yields jumped to its highest level since 2014 and the short-end at the highest since 2008. 

Rising bond yields also pushed the US Dollar higher and was eventually proving a drag on shares of multinational companies, who tend to get impacted by stronger buck as they provide sales and services abroad. 

Among individual movers, Walmart shares plunged over 9% following underwhelming fourth-quarter results and turned one of the biggest drags on the blue-chip index during the opening hour of trade. 

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped over 70-points to 25,145 and the broader S&P 500 Index tread water near 2,731. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the broader indices and jumped nearly 20-points to 7,260.