European stock markets closed mixed in light postholiday trade on Wednesday, with miners pushing higher, while Italian banks led decliners on ongoing concerns about the future of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, slumping in a broad decline as the market's multiweek rally-which has taken indexes to repeated records and the Dow within mere points of the 20,000 milestone-stalled. All 11 of the S&P 500's primary sectors ended lower on the day, while the benchmark index itself suffered its biggest one-day point and percentage drop since October. Financials and materials, two of the best-performing industries of late, were among the hardest hit, with both down about 1%.

Major Asian markets were broadly lower Thursday following declines on Wall Street. "It's largely a response to a negative U.S. session [but] volumes are so thin it's hard to read into any particular move," said Alex Furber, sales trader at CMC Markets.