NEW YORK, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower on Wednesday as investors digested key economic data while monitoring bond yields closely.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 387.14 points, or 1.46 percent, to 26,043.43. The S&P 500 was down 43.92 points, or 1.52 percent, to 2,836.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 167.32 points, or 2.16 percent, to 7,570.69.

U.S. producer prices increased 0.2 percent in September, reversing an unexpected decline in August and in line with expectations.

Final demand prices declined 0.1 percent in August and were unchanged in July. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index advanced 2.6 percent for the 12 months ended in September, said the Department of Labor on Wednesday.

August sales of merchant wholesalers were 511.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 0.8 percent from the revised July level and were up 9.2 percent from the same period last year.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield traded at around 3.23 percent in early trading on Wednesday, a day after it hit the highest level since 2011. Two-year Treasury yield hit 2.91 percent, its highest level in a decade.

Investors have been grappling with higher interest rates after a batch of strong economic data came out last week.

Strong data and commentary from Fed officials can be bullish for equities, but that comes with the side effect of having concerns on more inflation and interest-rate increases, which in turn is a negative for equities, experts noted.

Meanwhile, investors also brace for the upcoming earnings season, with J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo scheduled to report later this week.

Third quarter earnings are expected to increase 21.5 percent from the same period last year. Excluding the energy sector, the earnings growth estimate declines to 18.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. Enditem