Benzinga | Mar 18, 2021 04:25PM EDT

The SPY Was Down Today. Here's Why.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NASDAQ:SPY) traded as low as $390.86 Thursday before ending the day down by 1.45% at $391.48. The 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest mark since January 2020 at 1.75%, weighing on growth names in SPY.

Here are the day's winners and losers from the SPY, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The leaders for SPY Thursday were from the financial sector: Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:HIG), Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG). Shares of several banks were also trading higher Thursday amid a rise in yields, as higher rates could benefit lending margins.

Hartford Financial shares were halted by circuit breaker after Bloomberg reported Chubb, a global provider of insurance products, is considering buying Hartford for $21 billion.

Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) were among the top laggards for the SPY index.

Dollar General shares were trading lower after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter EPS results and issued EPS guidance below analyst estimates. Tesla shares are trading lower as rising yields weigh on growth names and the EV sector at large.

Elsewhere On The Street

* Shares of Upstart Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST), an artificial intelligence lending platform, surged following Upstart's announcement that it has agreed to acquire Prodigy Software, Inc., a provider of cloud-based automotive retail software. Read More

* Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AMC) climbed almost 4% after the movie theatre chain said 98% of its U.S. locations will be open beginning Friday. With additional openings in the U.S. expected over the next week, AMC expects 99% of its U.S. circuit will be open by March 26.

* Starbucks Corp's (NASDAQ:SBUX) customer visitation is expected to go back to pre-COVID-19 levels for when the vaccine is widely available, according to a survey conducted by Cowen Equity Research. Read More