Concerns over rising bond yields are keeping pressure on stocks at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is down roughly seven points, while both the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are lower as well. The latter is getting hit the hardest this afternoon, dampened by outsized losses from Big Tech names including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Tesla (TSLA). Meanwhile, investors are looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow, which could give clues on rates and inflation.

Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL) is seeing a pop in the options pits today, with 207,000 calls and 45,000 puts across the tape so far -- double the intraday average. The most popular is the weekly 2/26 27-strike call, followed by the March 25 call, with positions being opened at the former. At last check, CCL is up 9% at $26.81. And while the reason for this surge is not completely clear, the equity managed to topple long-time pressure at its $24 level, to hit a fresh annual high of $27.02 earlier today. 

ReTo Eco Solutions Inc (Nasdaq: RETO) is one of the best-performing stocks on the Nasdaq today, getting a boost from rumors flying around various social media platforms concerning the company expanding its involvement in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Some are also speculating on an upcoming merger with Apple (AAPL), though that has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, investors are diving in, with RETO up 97.5% at $2.33 at last check. The equity hit an over two-year high of $3.66 earlier today and is now up more than 247% this year. 

One of the worst-performing stocks on the Nasdaq today is Ebix Inc (Nasdaq: EBIX). The stock is off 41.1% at $29.91, following the resignation of its independent auditor. The company's audit committee said it was unable to obtain sufficient evidence for several "significant unusual transactions." Today's move has EBIX trading at its lowest level since November, after breaching the 40-day moving average -- a trendline that captured an early February pullback -- right out of the gate.