After hovering near breakeven for the past three days, the main indices remained stuck in red from the opening bell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 106.77 points (0.81 percent) to finish at 13,000.71.
The S&P 500-stock index slid 11.01 (0.78 percent) to 1,399.48, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^NDX - news) lost 32.48 (1.05 percent) at 3,048.71.
Friday's speech by Bernanke in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was "fostering caution on the Street," Charles Schwab (Berlin:SWG.BE - news) analysts said.
Stocks were also under pressure "as global economic growth concerns are flaring up," they added.
Wells Fargo Advisors said that Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "stoked concerns over the region's debt crisis after saying the country would not request bailout funding until terms surrounding a package were specified."
US economic data was mixed. Weekly initial jobless claims were higher than forecast, while consumer spending and income in July roughly matched expectations.
Ailing department-store chain Sears Holdings (NasdaqGS: SHLD - news) plunged 9.9 percent on news it is being dropped from the S&P 500 (SNP: ^GSPC - news) after the close of trade next Tuesday and will be replaced by a Dutch chemicals company, LyondellBasell.
In merger and acquisition news, The Carlyle Group rose 0.4 percent after the private-equity firm unveiled a $4.9 billion cash deal with DuPont to buy the firm's car paint unit. Dow (NYSE: DPD -news) member DuPont dropped 0.7 percent.
Amazon added 0.4 percent after announcing its Kindle Fire tablet was sold out just nine months after its launch and had captured 22 percent of tablet sales in the US.
Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , whose rival iPad dominates the market, skidded 1.4 percent. Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) , maker of the Nexus (Xetra: 522090 - news) tablet, fell 0.9 percent
Pandora Media soared 14.3 percent. The Internet radio service company posted second-quarter financial results and full-year forecasts late Wednesday that topped estimates.
Bond prices climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 1.62 percent from 1.65 percent Thursday, while the 30-year yield dropped to 2.74 percent from 2.77 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
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