The Dow Jones Industrial Average skidded 104.22 points (1.05 percent) to finish at 9,867.96, below the psychologically important 10,000 barrier for the second consecutive session.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 12.62 points (0.59 percent) to 2,141.85 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 12.65 points (1.17 percent) to 1,066.95.

The major indices erased strong opening gains in an abrupt reversal after about two hours of trading, and remained stuck in negative territory the rest of the session amid a dearth of economic releases on the calendar.

"A fast start didn't last long on Wall Street today. The major averages tumbled as a rebounding dollar stalled a rally in commodities," said Scott Marcouiller of Wells Fargo Advisors.

The U.S. dollar firmed against major currencies, gaining more than a cent against the euro.

"The strengthening dollar and financial industry developments rattled investors," said Sara Kline, an analyst at Moody's Economy.com.

The greenback's rise triggered a sharp pullback in oil prices and impacted dollar-sensitive sectors such as energy, mining and multinational companies whose exports benefit from a weak dollar.

Aluminum producer Alcoa plummeted 3.28 percent to US$13.28, oil group Chevron fell 1.60 percent to US$75.45 and aerospace giant Boeing slid 3.21 percent to US$48.29.

Bank of America was the biggest decliner on the blue-chip Dow, plunging 5.06 percent to US$15.40, after the Wall Street Journal reported that its attempt to repay US$45 billion in federal bailout funds had snagged on a disagreement with regulators over how much additional capital the bank must raise.

The sector also was weighed down by an analyst downgrade of regional banks Fifth Third, down 7.83 percent to US$9.53, and SunTrust, off 5.43 percent at US$19.85.

The S&P banking index dropped 2.99 percent, JPMorgan Chase slumped 3.12 percent to US$43.82 and Citibank shed 4.26 percent to US$4.27.

Telecommunications giant Verizon lost 0.73 percent to US$28.64 after the Dow component reported third-quarter profit only a fraction higher than expectations and revenue up 10.2 percent from a year ago.