On Thursday, S&P 500 index suffered maximum losses from late September, after the European Central Bank did not go for larger incentives, as the markets expected.
The ECB's decision led to a sharp rise of the euro, a surprise to investors, forcing them to change the position, which has affected most of the assets.
The Volatility Index - CBOE Volatility jumped 13.8 %, to close at the peak of the 17th of November.
The ECB cut its deposit rate and extended program of buying assets at least until the end of March 2017, as expected. However, some market participants hoped for larger incentives.
All ten major industry sectors of S&P fell on the second day of sharp losses for the US stock indices. Shares of the healthcare sector fell 2.2 %, the papers of the energy sector - by 2 %.
"The greatest impact came from the speech of ECB President this morning; it did not satisfy the American markets", - said Peter Bowie, president of Chase Investment Counsel.
Comments of Janet Yellen, the head of Fed, pointed to the willingness to raise interest rates this month.
The next Fed meeting will be held on December 15-16.
The Dow Jones fell 1.42 % to 17 477.67 points, S&P 500 fell 1.44 % to 2049.62 points, and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.67 % to 5037.53 points.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of declining securities (2728) exceeded the number closed in positive territory (713), and quotes of 2 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock market, paper of 2006 companies fell, and in case of 632 companies it rose, while 38 quotes remained at the previous close.
The S&P 500 showed a maximum daily percentage loss since September 28 and closed at the lowest level since November 13.
Data released on Thursday showed that the number of applications for unemployment benefits in the US rose for the week, but remained at levels that still demonstrate the strengthening of the labor market. On Friday, there will be released employment data for November, which are expected to show a growth in number employed in non-farm payrolls, to 200 000.