Traders celebrate on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the Dow Jones Industrial Average passes the 20,000 mark shortly after the opening of the trading session in New York, U.S., January 25, 2017.

The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, hit a record high on Wednesday and is up more than 1.5 percent this week.

The major indexes were coming off a bifurcated session in which sharp gains in bank shares were offset by a rollover in tech stocks.

Tech was "being used as a source of funds for investors wishing to increase positions in sectors more likely to benefit from a potential tax reform," said Michael Shaoul, chairman and CEO of Marketfield Asset Management.

Wall Street also looked to Vienna as OPEC members and other oil-producing countries met to discuss whether to extend production cuts currently in place. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told CNBC that OPEC's consensus was "almost complete," adding he doesn't expect an exit from the production cuts soon

OPEC and other countries had previously agreed to cut production by approximately 1.8 million barrels per day until March.

Crude prices fell 0.4 percent to $57.10 per barrel on Thursday.

In corporate news, Gap shares fell more than 1 percent after analysts at Citi downgraded the retailer to sell from neutral, citing valuation concerns following the stock's 40 percent jump in the past three months.

—CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report.