Wall Street lost ground on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pulling back from record closing highs in a broad sell-off driven by uncertainties surrounding the pace of the US economic recovery.

As the bond market rallied on a flight to safety, all three major US stock indexes tumbled. The Dow's economically sensitive transports plunged 3.3%, its biggest daily drop since October.

Still, analysts noted that the market remained close to historical highs.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, which showed the central bank does not yet believe the economy has fully recovered, yet a debate on tightening policy has begun in earnest.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 259.86 points,or 0.75%, to 34,421.93, the S&P 500 lost 37.31 points, or0.86%, to 4,320.82 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 105.28 points, or 0.72%, to 14,559.79.

Sensing cracks in the US economic recovery, traders covered short positions in the bond market. The yield of the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note fell for the eighth consecutive session.

All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 ended in the red, with financials suffering the largest percentage loss.

The number of US workers filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly ticked up to 373,000 last week, a sign that the US labor market recovery remains choppy.

Didi shares dropped 5.9%, while Alibaba Group and Bidu Inc shed 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a3.13-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.98-to-1 ratio favoUred decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 22 new 52-week highs and no new lows; theNasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 148 new lows.

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