The DAXis off 18 percent since the start of the month, the CAC and FTSEare off 11 and 8.7 percent respectively. It has been an awful month for those long equities and a great month for those who sat in gold as it rose by 13 percent over the last 30 days.
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On Wednesday European stocks are expected to make small losses at the open following news that the Federal Reserve is increasingly worried about the US economy and discussed even bolder measures to shore up growth, but remained divided on the need for further unconventional measures.
Whilst the minutes of the Federal reserves August meeting showed the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee)discussed linking rates to the path of unemployment, the committee is divided.
Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, told CNBC on Tuesday he favors strong central bank accommodation "for a substantial period of time" but the Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakotaindicated opposition to such a move.
Ahead of an eagerly awaited speech on job creation next week, President Obama said he was looking at measures that could create 1 million new jobs in a radio interview.
In a sign of how tense the market is towards Europe's banks, Danske Bank , was forced to quash rumours of major trading losses that started out on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. After the market close, management put out a statement saying the rumor was false and that Danske Markets was profitable in the third quarter.
August has seen the downgrade of America's AAA rating, some poor economic data from across the world and 500 point swings on the Dow as well as European Central Bank support for Italian and Spanish debt.
Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is promising his government's demands for collateral against any loans made to Greece, which have caused further uncertainty and anciety in the markets, will be solved in a matter of "days or weeks".
"I believe that a solution will be found. It is being negotiated by civil servants from several euro states," Katainen told Reuters on Tuesday.
"We are talking about days and weeks now. The aim is as soon as possible, because national parliaments start to approve the package, and then the collateral arrangements need to be known."
Germany's deputy finance minister joins CNBC on Wednesday to discuss the euro zone crisis.