* Materials, energy stocks weigh as oil drops 2.8 pct
* Existing home sales surge in December
* Indexes off: Dow 0.6 pct, S&P 0.8 pct, Nasdaq 1.2 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Updates with housing data, quote)
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as upbeat economic data on jobs and housing failed to offset a selloff in the technology and materials sectors.
Technology stocks were weighed by networking/cloud
computing companies after F5 Networks Inc
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 74.13 points, or 0.63 percent, at 11,751.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 9.72 points, or 0.76 percent, at 1,272.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 32.31 points, or 1.19 percent, at 2,693.05.
The decline came a day after Wall Street suffered its worst drop in nearly two months on disappointing results from banks. Investors were concerned the slump may grow worse.
"I do consider it to be the start of a something more," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco. "We're looking for a 5 percent to 7 percent pullback range, and I think we started it yesterday."
Crude oil futures
Alcoa Inc
Among the networking/cloud stocks, F5 Networks tumbled
nearly 23 percent at $107.22, while Juniper Networks Inc
In the latest economic data, U.S. home resales jumped more than expected in December despite bad weather as the sector struggled to recover from a severe slump. For story, see [ID:nN2090188], table [ID:nNYZLNE61J]
Also, U.S. initial jobless claims posted their biggest weekly decline in nearly a year. [ID:nN19241129] and [ID:nLLAKCE7AJ] (Reporting by Angela Moon and Ed Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)