Stocks closed lower Thursday, after the Dow and S&P 500 briefly touched fresh all-time highs. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar rose above the key threshold of 100 yen for the first time since April 2009.
Despite the weak session, major averages remain on pace for their third straight positive week.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 22.50 points to end at 15,082.62, after briefly kissing another all-time high of 15,144.83. JPMorgan and AT&T led the blue-chip laggards, while 3M held modest gains.
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The S&P 500 erased 6.02 points to finish at 1,626.67. The Nasdaq dipped 4.10 points to close at 3,409.17.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended above 13.
Most key S&P sectors ended lower, dragged by utilities and telecoms.
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"Being called 'high end' is usually good when referring to autos, wines or watches, but not to stock market measures," wrote Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. "As of [Wednesday's] market close, the S&P 500 was 11.2 percent above its 200-day moving average, versus the average spread of 2.4 percent since 1995...investors will be increasingly less tolerant of future economic or fundamental misses."
On the economic front, weekly jobless claims fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 last week, falling to the lowest level since 2008, according to the Labor Department. Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-time applications to rise to 335,000 last week.
Also on the economic front, wholesale inventories climbed 0.4 percent in March, according to the Commerce Department, edging past the 0.3 percent gain from a Reuters poll. However, wholesale sales unexpectedly fell 1.6 percent in March, logging the biggest drop since March 2009.
Quintiles Transnational jumped nearly 10 percent in its market debut on the NYSE, valuing the drug research company at about $5.70 billion. Other companies that are expected to go public this week include residential mortgage company PennyMac Financial Services and biotech company Receptos. This week will mark the highest IPO volume since late 2007, according to market data firm Ipreo.
Barnes & Noble surged following news that Microsoft may be considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets for $1 billion, according to Tech Crunch report.
Amazon.com rallied amid news the online retailer has been developing a smartphone with a 3D screen, according to Dow Jones, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Teen apparel retailers The Buckle and Zumiez rallied after both companies beat same-store sales expectations in April. And discount retailers Ross Stores and TJX also rose after the firms boosted their outlooks for the fiscal first quarter as sales topped forecasts.
As previously announced, TJX and Ross will no longer announce monthly sales after the April report, leaving a meager 11 U.S. chains reporting results, down from a peak of 68 in 2006.
Among earnings, Groupon surged after the daily deals website posted revenue that was better than expected. Shares have soared nearly 40 percent since the February ouster of the company's co-founder and former CEO Andrew Mason.
Tesla skyrocketed after the electric car maker topped expectations, posting its first quarterly net profit since it was founded a decade ago. The company also said it expects to deliver 21,000 Model S cars worldwide, up 5 percent from its earlier target of 20,000.
Dean Foods edged higher after the dairy company posted a stronger-than-expected profit thanks to proceeds from the sale of its Morningstar division. While the company expects a low-to-mid single-digit decline in volumes going forward, it reiterated its full-year earnings guidance.
Dish Network slipped after the broadcast satellite service provider reported earnings that tumbled, hurt by higher programming and subscriber-acquisition costs.
Nvidia and Priceline.com are among notable companies expected to post results after the closing bell.
So far, close to 90 percent of S&P 500 companies have posted quarterly results, with 67 percent topping earnings expectations and 24 percent missing forecasts, according to Reuters. If all remaining companies post numbers in line with estimates, earnings will be up 5.3 percent on last year.
But sales have come in 1 percent below estimates on average, with only 46 percent of companies beating their revenue projections.
Treasurys gained after the government auctioned $16 billion in 30-year notes at a high yield of 2.980 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand was 2.53, against a recent average of 2.60.
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In Asia, the Shanghai Composite snapped a four-day winning streak after Chinese inflation data showed food prices rose 4 percent in April, compared to 2.7 percent in March. Meanwhile, European shares finished narrowly mixed after the Bank of England kept its monetary policy unchanged, as expected.
—By CNBC's JeeYeon Park. Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC
On Tap This Week:
FRIDAY: Fed's Evans speaks, Bernanke speaks, Fed's George speaks, Treasury budget, G-8 mtg; Earnings from ArcelorMittal, GoldFields
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