US STOCKS-Nasdaq, S&P 500 fall, pressured by rising U.S. Treasury yields

* Technology-related companies resume slide
* Discovery rises on strong paid streaming subscribers
forecast
* Dow up 0.44%, S&P 500 down 0.21%, Nasdaq down 1.41%

(Updates to mid-afternoon, adds analyst comments, updates
prices)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on
Monday as climbing Treasury yields and prospects of rising
inflation triggered valuation concerns, hitting shares of
high-flying growth companies.
The Dow index, on the other hand, was higher, boosted by a
5% gain in Walt Disney Co DIS.N .
U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were up at 1.36%
US10YT=RR on Monday. Since the beginning of February, 10-year
yields have risen about 26 basis points, on track for their
largest monthly gain in three years.
"Investors are a little nervous about Treasury yields rising
so quickly and it has been a pretty quick move in a short period
of time," said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally
Invest, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"What investors are grappling with ... is what does this
mean from an inflation perspective. Because of that, there's a
little bit of tantrum in the market right now," she added.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak
before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, and investors
are expected to look for any potential changes to the central
bank's dovish outlook in recent months. Shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O ,
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , Tesla Inc TSLA.O and Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O resumed their slide from the previous week, falling
between 0.9% and 5%.
Largely upbeat fourth-quarter earnings had powered Wall
Street's main indexes to record highs earlier last week, but the
rally lost steam, in part due to fears of a potential snag in
U.S. vaccination efforts and inflation concerns emanating from a
raft of stimulus measures.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI rose 137.26 points, or 0.44%, to 31,631.58, the S&P 500
.SPX lost 8.3 points, or 0.21%, to 3,898.41 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC dropped 195.70 points, or 1.41%, to 13,678.76.
The S&P 500 .SPX was on track for a five-day losing
streak, its worst in one year.
Value stocks .IVX have outperformed growth shares .IGX
in February, with investors betting on a rebound in industrial
activity and a pickup in consumer demand as countries roll out
vaccines to tame the pandemic.
The S&P 500 industrials .SPLRCI and financial sector
.SPSY rose 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively, while energy stocks
.SPNY surged 4.5% on higher oil prices. [O/R
Discovery Inc DISCA.O jumped 9.5% after the media company
said it was expecting 12 million global paid streaming
subscribers by the end of February, as coronavirus-led
restrictions kept people at home. Kohl's Corp KSS.N gained 7.9% after a group of activist
investors nominated nine directors to the department store
chain's board. Principal Financial Group Inc PFG.O added 8.8% after a
media report that activist investor Elliott Management Corp had
taken a stake in the life insurance company and planned to push
for changes. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.14-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.17-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 71 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 252 new highs and 10 new lows.