European stocks moved sharply lower on Tuesday, with U.K. stocks leading the charge south after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May unexpectedly called an early general election. A slump in commodity shares and nerves ahead of the first round of voting in France's presidential election on Sunday also added selling pressure on European equity benchmarks.

U.S. stocks on Tuesday finished squarely in negative territory, but off session lows, as a spate of tepid corporate earnings weighed on the broader market. A decline in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, -4.72% shaved more than 70 points off the Dow industrials after the investment bank's first-quarter results missed Wall Street expectations.

Equities investors in Asia tempered their risk appetite on Wednesday, tracking declines in the U.S., as geopolitical concerns continued to weigh on markets. British Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement of a general election in June, aimed at shoring up her mandate to take Britain out of the EU, added to already simmering market worries around North Korea, Syria and Russia.