How the major stock indexes fared on Thursday

Stocks fell on Thursday, marking the third day in a row of declines and putting the big indices on track for their second weekly loss in a row.

Investors have been worried that the economy may be improving to the point where the Federal Reserve will dial back its stimulus. Also, with stocks posting gains above 20 percent for the year so far, some investors are taking profits.

Six out of 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell. It was the eighth day out of the past 10 that the Dow Jones industrial average fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 104.10 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 15,739.43.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.72 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,775.50.

The Nasdaq composite fell 5.41 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,998.40.

For the week:

The Dow is down 280.77 points, or 1.8 percent.

The S&P 500 is down 29.59 points, or 1.6 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 64.12 points, or 1.6 percent.

For the year so far:

The Dow is up 2,635.29 points, or 20.1 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 349.31 points, or 24.5 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 978.89 points, or 32.4 percent.