At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 22,850.72, down 2.0 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 slid 1.6 percent to 2,467.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 1.7 percent to 6,526.29.

A bruising December has set up Wall Street for its worst year since the financial crisis.