European markets declined on Wednesday.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.69 percent lower to 1,523.24.
In Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 1.73 percent to 7,588.03, while the Paris CAC-40 fell 2.14 percent to 5,551.55 and the IBEX was down 2.31 percent to 14,252.5 in Madrid.
There was only one winner on the CAC-40, in the banking sector, where Dexia (Euronext: DEXB; Euronext: DX; LuxSE: DXB) added 0.19 percent to €20.93.
Meanwhile, the Dax saw only two gainers on the day.
HypoVereinsbank (FWB: HVM) was 0.57 percent higher to €40.45, while chemicals group Altana (FWB: ALT; NYSE: AAA) had the best performance there with a gain of 1.61 percent to €17.73.
Carmakers were lower, with Renault (Euronext: RNO) turning in the worst performance on the CAC-40 with a drop of 4.09 percent to €95.00.
Peugeot (Euronext: UG; OTC: PEUGY) was the second-biggest loser of the day in Paris as it fell 3.89 percent to €57.13 after it said it could cut as many as 8,000 jobs by the end of the year.
Airlines were also lower.
Lufthansa (FWB: LHA) was down 2.77 percent to €21.12, while Air France (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) dropped 3.26 percent to €29.70.
In the banking sector, Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) fell 2.93 percent to €118.40.
Among pharmaceuticals groups, Bayer (FWB: BAY; NYSE: BAY; TYO: 4863) was 2.53 percent lower to €57.20 on the announcement that it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange.
Aerospace group EADS (Euronext: EAD; FWB: EAD) was 3.01 percent lower to €21.26.