US STOCKS-Tech stocks weigh on S&P 500, Nasdaq with Fed on deck

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* Benchmark 10-year yields hit fresh 13-month peak
* Rate-sensitive bank stocks climb
* McDonald's rises as DB raises rating, price target
* Indexes: Dow up 0.28%, S&P down 0.50%, Nasdaq off 1.31%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh
March 17 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped on
Wednesday as U.S. bond yields spiked ahead of the Federal
Reserve's policy statement which could provide hints on whether
the central bank would raise interest rates sooner than
expected.
The benchmark 10-year yield US10YT=RR ticked up to a new
13-month high of 1.676%, denting demand for some high-growth
technology stocks and pressuring the Nasdaq by about 1%. US/
Fears that $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus would overheat the
economy have triggered a rapid spike in long-duration Treasury
yields, derailing Wall Street's main indexes from their peaks
last month.
The Fed is expected to issue a blowout GDP forecast for 2021
at the end of a two-day meeting on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET (1800
GMT). The meet will be followed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell's
news conference, where he is likely to reassure the economy can
take off without generating excessive inflation. While the Fed has reiterated it will remain dovish till the
labor market fully recovers, eurodollar futures, which track
short-term rate expectations, have priced a 90% chance of a rate
hike by December 2022, with three hikes seen in 2023.
"Fed is more willing to allow inflation to run hot at the
same time it wants to bond markets to not run past the current
level," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA
Research in New York.
"If the Fed hints they would buy bonds at the longer end of
the (Treasury yield) curve, it would help equities rally."
The S&P 500 and the Dow on Monday reached all-time closing
highs while the Nasdaq has recovered more than half of its
losses since confirming a correction last week on optimism over
the latest round of fiscal stimulus and vaccinations.
At 11:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 90.98 points, or 0.28%, to 32,916.93, the S&P 500 .SPX
lost 19.84 points, or 0.50%, to 3,942.87 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC lost 176.93 points, or 1.31%, to 13,294.64.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O slipped between 1.4% and 2.2% in a continuation of a
rotation out of high-flying companies into last year's laggards
including financials .SPSY , industrials .SPLRCI and
materials .SPLRCM .
The banks index .SPXBK and airlines .SPCOMAIR , expected
to benefit from a reopening economy, added more than 1%.
"The play is value ... as the economy picks up, there is a
lot more leverage in earnings growth for cyclical companies,"
said Eric Diton, president and managing director of the Wealth
Alliance in New York.
Fast-food retailer McDonald's MCD.N gained nearly 1.5%
after Deutsche Bank raised its target price on the stock and
also upgraded its recommendation to "buy" from "hold".
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.8-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.9-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 88 new highs and 48 new lows.