Wall St drops as investors cautious ahead of big earnings; Treasury yields rise

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street lost ground on Monday, retreating after a strong rally the previous week, as investors awaited earnings from major companies to gauge whether equities would sustain their recent run to record highs.

A jump in Treasury yields added pressure, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rising as high as 4.17%, a 12-week high.

Most rate-sensitive megacap technology stocks slipped, with Tesla down 1%, and Microsoft and Meta Platforms both losing 0.7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 323.49 points, or 0.75%, to 42,952.42, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 24.97 points, or 0.43%, to 5,839.70, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 29.52 points, or 0.16%, to 18,460.03.

After a fairly upbeat start to earnings season, the focus is on the 114 S&P 500 companies that are scheduled to report results this week. These include Tesla, Coca-Cola and Texas Instruments.

"There's always a degree of caution going into the heart of earnings season... there are some underlying factors in the market that are generally positive, but I'd say that's just being overshadowed here by earnings," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist with Ingalls & Snyder.

"We're seeing yields across the board going up a bit here. There's been some nervousness about some of economic data we've seen recently."

Of the companies that have reported so far, 83.1% beat earnings estimates, according to data compiled by LSEG on Friday.

Some traders were likely booking profits, Ghriskey said.

The three major indexes logged a sixth consecutive week of gains on Friday, their best winning streak so far this year, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both closed at record highs.