Wall Street drops as bargain-hunting loses steam

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 313.26 points, or 0.89%, to 34,715.39, the S&P 500 lost 50.03 points, or 1.10%, to 4,482.73 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 186.24 points, or 1.3%, to 14,154.02.Of 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 10 finished lower, with the consumer discretionary sector falling 1.9%. Utilities eked out a 0.1% gain.

NEW YORK:Wall Street's main indexes ended sharply lower on Thursday and a rally in U.S. stocks evaporated late in the session as investors considered whether equities were bargains after a sell-off to start the year that has seen the Nasdaq fall into correction territory.

Major U.S. indexes had been gaining solidly for much of the day, following a steep drop to start the week.