Here is how major stock markets outside the United States ended on Thursday.
Investment banks such as BNP Paribas and UBS were among the biggest decliners, shedding between 1.3 and 2.1 percent after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it and other regulators would meet 14 top banks next month to discuss practices in the booming credit derivatives market.
The invited banks have not been named. But British bank Lloyds TSB bucked the downward trend, gaining 1 percent on talk that Wells Fargo, the number five US bank, could be circling to make a bid.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst index of 300 blue chips shed 0.7 percent to 1,172.57, posting its fourth consecutive lower close and retreating further from three-year highs struck this month.
The all-share index dipped 52.18 or 0.34 percent to 15,382.89 points. The All Gold index closed at 1,642.17, down 31.52 or 1.88 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 11,425.47, down 50.55 or 0.44 percent.