U.S. stocks end lower Thursday, with tech rout putting Nasdaq Composite on pace for a 3.6% weekly drop

Stocks closed lower Thursday, putting the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index on pace for a 3.6% weekly decline, as Treasury yields climbed and expectations for a more aggressive pace of normalization of monetary policy from the Federal Reserve weighed on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.47% ended lower for a second straight day, shedding about 170 points, or 0.5%, to finish near 36,236. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.10% shed about 0.1%, while tech-led selling continuing. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.13% ended 0.1% lower, a day after booking its worst one-day percentage drop since Feb. 25. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Thursday said the Fed could start to raise its benchmark interest rate as soon as March. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 1.733%, its highest yield since March 31, according to Dow Jones Market Data.