Market Update
European shares tumbled in early trade Thursday after the Federal Reserve introduced a program to push long-term interest rates down but warned of "downside risks" to the U.S. economy.
At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE fell 2.6%, France's CAC dropped 2.8% while Germany's DAX was trading 2.9% lower.
Equities edged lower globally after the Federal Reserve's FOMC two-day meeting concluded and the central bank announced it was swapping its shorter-maturity bonds for long-term bonds, in a bid to push down long-term interest rates.
Mining stocks came under pressure after metal prices came off in the commodities market. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata lost between 5% and 6%.
Oil firms BP and BG Group were off 3% and 3.5%, respectively, after crude prices lost ground.
Bank shares were broadly lower across the region, too: Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale declined 3.4% to 4.8%.