US stocks surrender recent gains amid profit taking

US stocks came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading session on Thursday amid profit taking. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq tumbled 299.63 points or 1.7 percent to 17,619.35, the S&P 500 slumped 50.21 points or 0.9 percent to 5,570.64 and the Dow fell 177.71 points or 0.4 percent to 40,712.78. Tech sector led the declines as Nvidia fell 3.7% ahead of its earnings report next week. Consumer discretionary stocks also fell sharply, highlighted by Teslas 5.6% loss. In contrast, financials, real estate, and energy sectors ended the day positively.