Stocks fell again Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s weak stretch this holiday-shortened week.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.7%. After two days of trading, the benchmark index has lost nearly half of its gains from last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite ended 1.1% lower.

Big technology stocks were among the biggest drags on the market. Apple fell 3.6% and Nvidia dropped 3.1%.

The latest pullback in stocks came as Treasury yields climbed following data showing the U.S. services sector remains strong.

The Institute for Supply Management’s latest survey showed that the sector, which employs most Americans, grew at a faster pace than economists expected in August. The sector is among the biggest pieces of the U.S. economy and it has remained resilient throughout 2023 despite persistent inflation and rising interest rates squeezing consumers.

“That suggests there is still a tremendous amount of demand for the services sector,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

Bond yields jumped following the report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.30% from about 4.25% just prior to the survey’s release.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tracks expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose to 5.04% from 4.96% just prior to the survey’s results being released.

The dominant economic theme continues to be inflation and interest rates, which the Fed has boosted in an effort to bring down prices. Investors are hoping that the Fed might moderate interest rate increases going forward as inflation has been easing for months.

Wall Street expects the Fed to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at its next meeting later in September. Investors are mostly betting that the central bank will maintain that pause through the rest of the year. Economic updates last week on consumer confidence, jobs and inflation reinforced those hopes.

“It seems we’re all coalescing around a potential pause,” Hainlin said.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 31.35 points to 4,465.48 Wednesday. The Dow dropped 198.78 points to 34,443.19, and the Nasdaq gave back 148.48 points to 13,872.47.

Several companies made big moves after reporting earnings and other updates.