European stocks closed lower Wednesday afternoon, dragged down in late trade by another slump in U.S. markets.
European markets
The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished down 0.22 percent, recording an even split of sector gainers and losers. Of the major European indexes, only the FTSE 100 in London increased in value over the session.
Europe's retail stocks led the gains Wednesday, up 1.14 percent amid earnings news. France's Kering was the top sectoral performer, with shares rising 4.79 percent after stronger-than-anticipated sales figures in the third quarter.
France's Societe BIC also surged towards the top of the benchmark during afternoon deals. The Paris-listed stock reported a bounce in third-quarter sales figures on Wednesday, prompting shares to jump 6.14 percent.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank shares fell 4.76 percent on Wednesday. It came after the German flagship lender said it was on track to swing to profit this year, despite reporting a steep decline in third-quarter profit. Europe's banking index — the worst-performing sector in Europe so far this year — edged 1.35 percent lower on the news.
Travel and leisure stocks also moved higher, helped by airline stocks. Deutsche Bank upgraded airlines to overweight, citing the likelihood that oil prices will not rise too much from current levels.
Khashoggi crisis
Global stocks have suffered this week amid lingering concerns about U.S. earnings, Italian government finances and escalating trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
Meanwhile, mounting pressure on Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to ride market sentiment. Saudi Arabia is a major tech investor and the world's largest oil exporter.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he is cooperating with Turkey over the death of Khashoggi and those found guilty will be brought to justice. He took to the stage on Wednesday at the Future Investment initiative (FII) in Riyadh, an event that has been somewhat depleted by a number of high-profile withdrawals.
Stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially traded higher on Wednesday, boosted by quarterly results from Boeing that blew expectations out of the water.
However, by the European closing bell sentiment had turned and the Dow was lower by more than 260 points as United Technologies and Disney lagged. The S&P 500 dropped 1.2 percent as the tech and financials sectors fell more than 1 percent each. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1 percent as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all traded lower.