Investors rushed out of high-flying technology stocks, such as Apple and Netflix, following a rise in U.S. bond yields - with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hitting a one-year high of more than 1.6%.

Nicole Webb, financial advisor with Wealth Enhancement Group, directly links the sell-off in technology shares to higher yields.

I really do think this is responsive to the uptick in yield. This has accelerated and it's accelerated quickly and I don't think Wall Street thinks there are mechanisms in place to stop it anytime soon and as a result its caused Wall Street to call into question whether or not the current valuations of companies make sense with interest rates at those levels."

But as the rest of Wall Street tanked, so called 'meme stocks,' such as GameStop, soared.

The video game retailer was up almost 70% at one point in a rally reminiscent of the stock trading frenzy in January, when retail investors sent its share price skyrocketing, hitting hedge funds with bets on its decline.

After the bell food delivery company DoorDash reported an over three-fold rise in quarterly revenue in its first results as a public company but fell 10% after posting a net loss of $312 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, bigger than last year's loss of $134 million.