"It's pretty evident that the jobs market and the consumer are doing OK. Claims are still very, very low," he said. If claims are up to mid-250,000 by year's end, "that's a fairly obvious sign that there's a loosening of the labor market." "The question everyone's asking is: can yields continue to rise further and at what point are yields going to cause some serious damage on the economy?" The dollar index fell 0.234%, with the euro up 0.25% at $1.0529. All 11 sectors of the S&P index were in the red, with the big megacap growth stocks leading the decline.

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Persons: Brendan McDermid, Wall, Mike Sanders, Baylee Wakefield, Brent, Dennis Kissler, Elizabeth Howcroft, Elaine Hardcastle, Sharon Singleton, Richard Chang Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Madison Investments, Labor Department, Reuters, Aviva Investors, Treasury, Bank of Japan, Analysts, Bank of, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, BOK, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Madison , Wisconsin, Bank of Japan