In Australia, the Dow and S and P both closed down about 4/10 of a percent, while the NASDAQ lost 7/10 of a percent.

Progress in the vaccination roll out, plus strong earnings and hopes of a $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package, had helped US stock indexes again hit record highs earlier in the week.

But after a months long rally, Thompson Reuter stocks buzz Analyst Terence Gabriel says the market could now be at a turning point.

Conditions air there in terms of overly bullish sentiment, a lot of complacency, very overheated, uh, internal measures and market momentum measures, so the conditions were there for the market to be at an important turning point.

Eso certainly we have to watch the way any kind of decline starts to develop in terms of how broad it is.

Meanwhile, retail giant WalMart slipped 6.5% after missing quarterly profit estimates and forecasting a slowdown in sales and profits for the year.

We always felt comfortable with our liquidity.

Thursday's action on Wall Street came as the heads of online broker Robin Hood and hedge funds were being grilled by lawmakers in Washington over the game Stops saga, which saw retail investors drive up the video game companies stock hitting hedge funds who had been betting against the company.