In the European markets at midday on Wednesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.1 percent to 1,061.62, while the Xetra Dax in Germany was off 1.4 percent to 4,173.95, and in Paris the CAC-40 fell 1.2 percent to 3,944.28.

There were losses in most sectors, but a big factor in the decline were disappointing quarterly earnings reports in the telecommunications and technology sectors. Telenor, the top telecommunications operator in Norway, reported earnings that were lower than expected. This news sent shares in the company down 8.9 percent.

Meanwhile, in the technology sector, chipmaker STMicroelectronics saw its shares fall 6.3 percent after it announced a first quarter loss of $31 million, as it was beset by plant closing and weak sales. The company had posted a net profit of $77 million in the same quarter of last year.

Other chipmakers also were down. Infineon shares fell 1.2 percent and ASML was 3 percent lower. Mobile phone makers didn’t do very much better. Shares in Sweden’s Ericsson were down 2.4 percent and Nokia was off by 1.7 percent.