The online travel-booking sites Expedia and Booking Holdings rose.

Bank stocks soared as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 0.920 percent and the yield curve steepened. Financial institutions make the majority of their money from the difference between interest paid to depositors — who supply the money a bank lends — and interest charged to borrowers.

Big technology names, like Apple and Amazon were also in favor as Tesla shares dropped.

Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Company gained despite announcing the closure of both its Disney World and Disneyland theme parks.

On the earnings front, Gap reported better-than-expected top- and bottom-line results but warned it would take a $100 million revenue hit in the current quarter due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Elsewhere, Slack Technologies, the workplace-messaging platform expected to benefit from more employees using technology to connect as they work from home during the outbreak, gave a disappointing first-quarter revenue forecast sending shares lower.