NEW YORK — Good news for the U.S. economy may be reverting to bad news for Wall Street, and U.S. stock indexes are feeling pressure on Tuesday from better-than-expected reports on the job market and business activity.

The S&P 500 swung to a loss of 0.3% in midday trading after losing an earlier, small gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its early climb of 224 points shrink to 80 points, or 0.2%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1%.

Rising Bond Yields Put Pressure on Stocks

Stocks felt pressure from rising yields in the bond market, which jumped immediately after the release of the encouraging reports on the economy. One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of November than economists expected. The other said activity for finance, retail and other services businesses grew much faster in December than expected.

The strong reports are of course good news for workers looking for jobs and for anyone worried about a possible recession. But such a solid economy could also make the Federal Reserve less likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.

The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September to give the economy a boost, but it’s hinted a slowdown in easing is coming. The threat of tariffs and other policies from President-elect Donald Trump has raised worries about possible upward pressure on inflation, which has been stubbornly remaining just above the Fed’s 2% target.

Related Story: Survey: Small Businesses Are Feeling More Optimistic About the Economy After ...

Impact on Treasury Yields and Tech Stocks

Expectations for fewer cuts to rates in 2025 had already been building for weeks, which pushed longer-term Treasury yields upward. Those higher yields make Treasury bonds more attractive to investors who might otherwise buy stocks, and the supersafe bonds are paying notably more.

The yield on a 10-year Treasury climbed further to 4.68% from 4.63% shortly before the release of Tuesday’s reports and from just 4.15% in early December.

High yields can put heavy pressure on stocks seen as the most expensive, which focuses the lens on Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks that have soared in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Nvidia had been on track to set another all-time high in morning trading, after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a suite of new products and partnerships in a speech the night before. He talked up the potential for AI technology in robotics, among other opportunities for big growth.

But after Tuesday morning’s economic reports, Nvidia swung to a loss of 5.1% and became the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Drops for Amazon, Tesla, Meta Platforms and Broadcom also dragged the index lower.

Related Story: Stock Market Today: Nvidia and Other Tech Stocks Drive Wall Street Higher

Notable Market Movements

Helping to keep U.S. stock indexes in check was Cintas, which rose 3.3% after making public its offer to buy its smaller rival, UniFirst, for $275 per share in cash.

Cintas said it first made that offer in November but has been unable to get UniFirst’s board to meet. UniFirst had rejected an earlier offer of $255 per share, said Cintas, which provides uniforms, restroom supplies, fire extinguishers and other products to businesses.

UniFirst soared 22.2% to $206.86, below Cintas’ offer price.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, both Shutterstock and Getty both jumped after they announced they were joining to become a $3.7 billion visual content company to provide customers with a broader array still imagery, video, music, 3D and other media.

Getty Images shareholders will own a slight majority of the combined company. Getty shares jumped 26.7%, while Shutterstock climbed 23.8%.

In stock markets abroad, some notable Chinese companies fell after the U.S. Defense Department added dozens of them to a list of companies it says have ties to China’s military. The announcement caused some of the companies to protest and say they will seek to have the decision reversed.

Added to the list were gaming and technology company Tencent, artificial intelligence firm SenseTime and the world’s biggest battery maker CATL. Tencent’s stock that trades in Hong Kong fell 7.3%.

That helped pull the Hang Seng index down 1.2%, but indexes were stronger elsewhere in China and across much of Asia and Europe.