The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the S&P 500 closed slightly higher on Wednesday, as investors weighed an uptick in Treasury yields, while the Toronto market ended in the red, pulled lower by slumping railway shares and other interest-rate-sensitive stocks. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that an auction of a record $70-billion (U.S.)worth of five-year U.S. Treasury notes helped to push bond yields higher. Canadian five-year yields rose to 3.86 per cent, the highest since early November. "Markets look pretty good right now, but the big backdrop that everyone's still concerned about is bond yields," said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments. Still, the Bank of Canada is expected to begin cutting interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve as a slowdown in the domestic economy helps cool inflation. Data showed on Wednesday that Canadian retail sales fell 0.1 per cent in February, the second straight month of declines. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended at 21,873.72, down 138 points. CN Rail fell 4.8 per cent after the company's first-quarter revenue missed analysts' estimates. Canadian Pacific Kansas City also missed estimates; its shares declined 6.3 per cent.