In Europe on Wednesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 1.04 percent to 1,205.39. In Germany, the Xetra Dax was down even more, falling 1.77 percent to 4,875.22.
Among the reasons for the declines were worries about a new hurricane threatening the United States.
The banking sector was one of the biggest decliners on the day, falling after a downgrade of the sector from “overweight” to “neutral” by JP Morgan.
UBS was down 0.8 percent to SFr109.10, Credit Suisse Group lost 1.4 percent to SFr57.25, and Deutsche Bank declined 2.6 percent to €74.90.
The reinsurance sector was down on reports of the strengthening of Hurricane Rita on the heels of losses incurred by Katrina. Munich Re lost 1.9 percent to €90, while Swiss Re fell 1.5 percent to SFr81.80.
The semiconductor sector also saw declines on the day, as Infineon lost 1.1 percent to €7.90 on a report that it was getting ready to spin off its DRAM memory chip unit, which has been incurring losses.
Elsewhere in the sector, STMicroelectronics fell by 2.7 percent to €13.93 and Dutch chipmaking equipment company ASML declined 3.3 percent to €13.39 on reports that chip equipment sales and billing were both down globally.