NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks skidded lower on Wednesday as the U.S. imposed more sanctions on Russia, and the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its last monthly meeting.

Sherbank and Alfabank, Russia's third and fourth biggest banks were hit with new sanctions, along with President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters.

The main consternation though on Wednesday was speculating about the Fed's next move in light of the minutes of their last meeting.

"I think the stock market is getting the idea that $60 billion Treasurys and $35 billion in mortgages is starting to get real," James Caron of Morgan Stanley Investment Management told CNBC Wednesday.

"If they do another 50 basis points hike in May and another 50 in June, it's starting to get more real. It's certainly not a tailwind for stocks."

Most prominent on Wednesday were the sellers of technology stocks. They sent the Nasdaq Composite tumbling 315.35 points or 2.22 percent to 13,888.82.

The Dow Jones industrials dipped 144.67 points or 0.42 percent to 34,496.51.

The Standard and Poor's 500 retreated 43.97 points or 0.97 percent to 4,431.15.

On foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar remained supreme. The euro was soft at around 1.0895 approaching the New York close Wednesday. The British pound slumped to 1.3068. The Japanese yen edged lower to 123.79. The Swiss franc was softer at 0.9333.

The Canadian dollar fell to 1.2532. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were reined in to 0.7511 and 0.6919 respectively.

There were heavy falls on European equity markets Wednesday. The Dax in Germany shed 2.21 percent, while in Paris, France the CAC 40 plummeted 1.89 percent.

The FTSE 100 in London declined a more modest 0.34 percent.

On Asian markets, the big mover was the Hang Seng in Hong Kong which dived 421.79 points or 1.87 percent to 22,080.52.

Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 437.68 points or 1.58 percent to 27,350.30.

The Australian All Ordinaries slid 44.90 points or 0.57 percent to 7,788.30.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 fell 42.09 points or 0.35 percent to 12,074.30.

South Korea's Kospi Composite dropped 24.17 points or 0.88 percent to 2,735.03.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was virtually unchanged, adding just 0.71 of a point or 0.02 percent to 3,283.43.