US open: S&P 500 snaps six-day win streak as bond yields rise

(Sharecast News) - US stock markets opened lower on Tuesday with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day winning streak as bond yields crept higher.

The yield on a 10-year US Treasury was up 6.7 basis points at 4.521%, trading close to its highest levels since February, in the aftermath of Moody's decision to cut its rating on US government debt over the weekend.

By 0952 ET, the Dow was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while the Nasdaq was down 0.6%.

Moody's on Friday cut its rating on US government debt from the highest rating Aaa to Aa1 as a result of the country's eye-watering $36trn debt pile and growing interest costs. The downgrade means that none of the three major credit ratings agencies now rate US debt as the highest quality.

Nevertheless, equity markets held up relatively well on Monday, with bond yield initially spiking higher but then falling by the end of the trade, giving some support to stocks.

"The main takeaway seems to be that Moody's hasn't said anything that the market doesn't already know about," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

"But while the announcement could have triggered a major risk-off move should investors be particularly antsy, it looks as if sentiment is sufficiently resilient to take this punch on the nose in its stride - for now."

With no major economic data scheduled for Tuesday's session, the focus will likely be on scheduled speeches from more Federal Reserve policymakers later on.

Market movers

Home Depot was rising despite a mixed quarterly earnings report, after its CFO Richard McPhail told CNBC that the DIY retailer won't need to lift prices as a result of tariffs.

"Because of our scale, the great partnerships we have with our suppliers and productivity that we continue to drive in our business, we intend to generally maintain our current pricing levels across our portfolio," McPhail said in a CNBC interview.

Uber was higher after announcing a partnership with Waymo to bring autonomous ridesharing to Atlanta.