After hovering near breakeven for the past three days, the main indices dropped sharply in the first five minutes of trade.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 75.34 points (0.57 percent) to 13,032.14.

The S&P 500-stock index slid 8.41 (0.60 percent) to 1,402.08, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 19.74 (0.64 percent) at 3,061.45.

"Wednesday's round of positive economic and housing data has dampened the outlook that an additional round of monetary easing will be unveiled in Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Friday address," said Karee Venema at Schaeffer's Investment Research.