Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as strong earnings and economic data were not enough to quell jitters on Wall Street about higher interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed 1,032.89 points lower at 23,860.46, entering correction territory. The 30-stock index also closed at its lowest level since Nov. 28. The Dow is also on track to post its biggest weekly decline since October 2008.

"This whole correction is really about rates. It's really about inflation creeping up. It's really about people thinking the Fed is either behind the curve or actually has to be more aggressive," Stephanie Link, global asset management managing director at TIAA, told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

"That fear, that unknown is really what's driving a lot of the anxiety," Link said.

This is the third drop for the Dow greater than 500 points in the last five days. Despite the decline Thursday, the average is still a ways from its low for the week hit on Tuesday of 23,778.74. American Express and Intel were the worst-performing stocks in the index, sliding more than 5.4 percent. J.P. Morgan Chase, meanwhile, was down by more than 4 percent.

The pulled back 3.75 percent to 2,581, reaching a new low for the week. The index also broke below its 100-day moving average and closed under 2,600, two important thresholds. For the S&P 500, it is its third drop of greater than 2 percent in the last five days.

The Nasdaq composite fell 3.9 percent to close at 6,777.16 as Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft all fell at least 4.5 percent.

"The market is focused on higher interest rates right now," said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. "The underlying fundamentals are going to drive stocks higher, but I think the path higher will be more volatile than it's been in the past few years."

The benchmark 10-year U.S. note yield rose to 2.88 percent before slipping to 2.848 percent Thursday, holding around multi-year highs. The initial move higher follows the release of strong jobless claims data. Weekly jobless claims hit a 45-year low, totaling 221,000. They fell from 230,000 in the previous week.