Shares of high-yielding real estate investment trusts (REITs) Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) and Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN), along with renewable energy company NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE: NEP), sank on Tuesday, down 4.4%, 6.7%, and 8.3%, respectively, as of 12:20 p.m. ET.

At first, these stocks don't seem to have much in common. Medical Properties Trust owns hospitals and leases them out on a global basis. Brandywine owns office, residential, life sciences, and transportation-related properties. And NextEra Partners buys renewable energy assets from its parent company NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) and manages them.

But they each pay out high dividend yields, and their balance sheets are highly leveraged. That's not a great combination if there is a rapid move upward in government bond yields, against which many debt and equity prices are set. And that is exactly what's happening this week, with another catalyst on Tuesday morning.

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Source Fool.com