MARKET SNAPSHOT: Dow Erases Nearly All Of Wednesday's Gain As Stocks Slump

By Anora Mahmudova and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks fell Thursday, giving up most of the prior day's big jump, which was the largest one-day advance of the year.

The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 26 points, or 1.3%, to 1,943. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) lost 237 points, or 1.4%, to 16,757 after rising 275 points on Wednesday. And the Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) was down 58 points, or 1.3%, at 4,410.

"What we're seeing is profit taking from yesterday's trading ,where we saw nearly 2% gains, and I think that was a bit overdone," explained Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari U.K. "We've seen massive rallies off those Fed minutes, which weren't exactly the most dovish thing we've ever heard, and there was no real change in policy."

All 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrials were down in early afternoon trading, with declines in Goldman Sachs (GS) , Visa (V) and Chevron (CVX) weighing heavily on the price-weighted index.

Government data showed the number of people applying for unemployment benefits was below 300,000 for the fourth week in a row.

Investors are hearing speeches from several Federal Reserve officials Thursday, a day after investors sent stocks soaring as minutes released from the central bank's September meeting appeared to quell any fears that interest rates might be raised sooner.

Fed watch: Six U.S. central bankers will be speaking Thursday, including Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and Gov. Daniel Tarullo, both voting members on the Fed's interest-rate-setting committee. Minutes from that committee's September meeting, released Wednesday, highlighted concerns among members over the medium-term impact of the stronger dollar and slower growth among some of the U.S.'s major trading partners.

Need to Know: A call to short chip makers in the face of a scary triple-top market.

Stocks to watch: PepsiCo Inc. shares (PEP) rose 0.5%, with the beverage and snack giant reporting third-quarter profit and sales results that beat expectations.

Alcoa Inc. shares (AA) fell 2.8% in regular trading after the aluminum producer's third-quarter earnings came in higher than Wall Street's estimate.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) suppliers have delayed plans to mass produce a larger-screen tablet to early next year, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Carl Icahn's promised letter to Apple arrived before the opening bell, as well; it was titled "Sale: Apple Shares at Half Price." Apple shares gained 0.9%.

Google Inc.'s (GOOG) tax deal in France is being challenged, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Shares fell 1.7%.

Other markets: In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average fell as the yen strengthened against the greenback. Gold prices (GCZ4)surged, while oil futures (CLX4) dropped.

MarketWatch's Carla Mozee in London contributed to this report.

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