The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 130.40 points, or 0.47 percent, to 27,901.98. The S&P 500 fell 28.48 points, or 0.84 percent, to 3,357.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 140.19 points, or 1.27 percent, to 10,910.28.
Shares of major U.S. tech giants such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet all closed lower.
Of the S&P 500 sector level, communication services and technology dipped 1.84 percent and 0.84 percent, respectively, among the worst performers.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower, with six of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.
The moves came after data showed jobless claims in the United States declined only slightly last week.
U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, came in at 860,000 in the week ending Sept. 12, following an upwardly revised level of 893,000 in the prior week, the Department of Labor reported Thursday. The reading slightly exceeded the median economist estimate of 850,000 compiled by Bloomberg.
Continuing claims, or the number of people already receiving benefits, stood at 12.63 million for the week ending Sept. 5, showed the report.
Wall Street also digested the Federal Reserve's latest decision on monetary policy.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday held its benchmark interest rate steady at the record-low level of near zero and promised to maintain this target range until labor market conditions have improved to reach maximum employment and inflation has picked up to its desirable level.
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