Bond yields jumped this week after another major rate hike from the Federal Reserve, flashing a warning for market distress.
The policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield on Friday climbed to 4.266%, notching a 15-year high, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury reached 3.829%, the highest in 11 years.
The yield curve inversion, occurring when shorter-term government bonds have higher yields than long-term bonds, is one indicator of a possible future recession.
Higher bond yields create more competition for funds that may otherwise go into the stock market, Winter said, and with higher Treasury yields used in the calculation to assess stocks, analysts may reduce future expected cash flows.
What's more, it may be less attractive for companies to issue bonds for stock buybacks, a way for profitable companies to return cash to shareholders, Winter said.