The US 10 year just hit a level not seen since 2011.
The US Dollar has also been pushing higher.
There is always a battle of sorts going on between stocks and bonds. People decide how to invest their money. They compare the returns they anticipate from certain investments.
Since central banks have pushed interest rates down to absurd levels, stocks offered a superior total return not only in dividends but price appreciation over the last decade. With interest rates moving higher, bonds will once again begin to compete with stocks for income seeking investors. This will cause days like today. Rapidly rising interest rates will cause some to rotate back into bonds and out of stocks. I consider this the prime reason stocks are moving sideways in this corrective pattern. Many investors will reconsider the P/E ratio they will accept, and the dividend yield from their stock positions.
The current fear in the market about rising interest rates will cause some days and weeks to hit stocks badly. I believe these fears are overdone. Further, there is nothing that says that stocks and interest rates can not rise together. They can.