Others picked up bitcoin, sending the cryptocurrency soaring past $50,000 for the first time before paring its gain.

But investors sold bonds, driving up the yield on the benchmark ten-year Treasury to its highest since last February. That propelled financial stocks higher but pressured tech stocks. Utilities and real estate stocks also fell because they're often considered bond proxies.

At the close - the Dow was up a fifth percent. But the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq lost a third of a percent.

The rise in Treasury yields and interest rates worries Vespula Capital CEO Jeff Tomasulo:

"When you have interest rates start to tick up the way we've seen today - now is this a trend or not I'm not sure but - if it continues, we're going to definitely see some issues in the overall market, and I think that's what we're seeing a little bit today."

As bitcoin briefly topped the 50K milestone, cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks soared. Among them: Silvergate Capital, Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group.

Investors also bet on shares of travel-related companies ahead of their earnings this week. Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Norwegian Cruise Lines rose.

Bank stocks jumped but Citigroup shares rose less than 1%. A federal judge ruled that the bank was not entitled to recoup the half a billion dollars it had mistakenly wired lenders of Revlon.