At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 49.84 points (0.36 percent) to 13,860.58.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 3.84 points (0.26 percent) to 1,498.12.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18 (0.01 percent) to 3,142.13.

Facebook, which reported disappointing earnings after the close Wednesday, pulled back from an early sharp fall to end down just 1.1 percent.