Stocks fell for a third straight session Thursday as investors weighed fresh earnings reports from the retail sector against worries the Federal Reserve will remain hawkish in its monetary policy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 300 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost about 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.77% or -33.97 points to 4,370.36

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.84% or -290.91 points to 34,474.83

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -1.17% or -157.70 points to 13,316.93

Market participants continued to mull over the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's recent July meeting, released Wednesday. The minutes showed that most central bankers remained concerned about inflationary pressures on the U.S. economy and signaled for higher-for-longer interest rates.

"With inflation still well above the Committee's longer-run goal and the labor market remaining tight, most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy," the meeting summary stated.

Currently, roughly 89% of investors are expecting the Fed to hold interest rates steady at a range of 5.25% and 5.50% at its upcoming policy meeting in late September, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Walmart (WMT  ) was also in the spotlight following its better-than-expected quarterly results released Wednesday morning. The retailer also raised its fiscal full-year outlook in response to strong grocery sales and online growth in its latest quarter -- now expecting consolidated net sales to rise by 4% to 4.5% and adjusted earnings per share between $6.36 and $6.46.

"Our customers and members are resilient," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told investors on the earnings call. "They're looking for value, and they trust us to be there for them. We see people across income cohorts come to us more frequently looking to save money on everyday needs. That gives us an opportunity to drive conversion in more discretionary categories."

In economic news, initial jobless claims declined to 239,000 for the week ended August 12, according to the Labor Department, down 11,000 from the previous week. Analysts had expected unemployment filings to increase, but the low unemployment rate and rising wages signal a so-called "soft-landing" as the U.S. economy recovers from the lingering impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs fixed income strategist Vinay Viswanathan revised the firm's housing market forecast in a note Thursday, now expecting a slight increase in home prices this year instead of a decline.

"We are revising our home price forecasts higher, to 1.8% for full-year 2023 vs. -2.2% prior, and 3.5% in 2024 vs. 2.8% prior," Vinay Viswanathan, wrote in a note, quoted by Yahoo!Finance. "These forecasts imply home prices will remain roughly unchanged through [the] year-end and then return to trend growth levels in 2024."

CVS Health (CVS  ) shares fell on news health insurer Blue Shield of California will end its use of the company's pharmacy benefit management services, partnering instead with Mark Cuban's Cost Post Drugs and Amazon Pharmacy (AMZN  ) to help its members ave on drug costs.

This article has finished updating.