Dow drops 200 points, adds to Tuesday's losses, as rates keep climbing

Stocks slipped on Wednesday, adding to losses from the previous session, as investors fretted over interest rates reaching multiyear highs. Investors also worried that corporations may not be able to maintain their pace of earnings growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 200 points after a higher open. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite both declined 0.8 percent.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded at 3.015 percent after breaking above 3 percent for the first time since 2014 on Tuesday. The move higher in rates helped push stocks lower on Tuesday, with the Dow dropping more than 400 points.

Investors are worried rising borrowing costs may slow the economy and hurt companies' ability to buy back their own stock.

With the 10-year yield hitting the 3 percent mark, financial markets around the globe have fallen, with European and Asian indexes trading in the red Wednesday.

The move lower in equities is taking place despite a string of strong corporate earnings. Dow member Boeing reported earnings and revenue that easily beat expectations. Twitter posted a better-than-expected profit and revenue for the first quarter. NBCUniversal-parent Comcast also posted stronger-than-forecast earnings and revenue.

On Tuesday, bellwether Caterpillar posted earnings and revenue that beat expectations, but the shares fell after the company's CFO said their first-quarter results may have been the "high watermark" for the year. Those remarks helped push the market lower in the previous session.

Jeremy Klein, chief market strategist at FBN Securities, said he is not worried about corporate earnings, however.

"Fears of 'peak earnings' are laughable considering that the average constituent in the S&P 500 has enjoyed year-over-year bottom line growth in excess of 20%," Klein wrote in a note. "Revenues have increased by nearly 10%. Solid economic data, which includes strong consumer and business confidence, makes an imminent recession a remote possibility."