Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, as did Germany's DAX.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting showed that policymakers were growing more cautious about recent weak inflation, with some calling for a pause in interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory.

European banks, which benefit from higher interest rates, were the worst-performing sector, down 1 percent with Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and UBS all down more than 1.5 percent.

Analysts also pointed to news that U.S. President Donald Trump had disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils on Wednesday as weighing on sentiment.

"That was the key link between corporate America and the Trump administration," Henry Croft, research analyst at Accendo Markets, said.

"The banks were pinning a lot of hopes on the fact that Trump would be able to remove some of the rules and regulations that came in after the 2008 crisis and limited their risk-taking ability," Croft added.

Energy stocks, the worst-performing European sector so far this year, were also down 0.7 percent, though basic resources were a bright spot, gaining 0.3 percent as metals prices rose.

Earnings updates were once again in focus, with Swiss toilet and plumbing supplies maker Geberit tumbling 5.8 percent after posting weaker-than-expected second quarter results, while Hikma dropped nearly 10 percent and Vestas Wind fell more than 7 percent after their updates.

Results boosted shares in Swiss health care firm Straumann to a record high, up 8.2 percent after its first half results beat expectations.

"We do not think anyone doubts Straumann’s revenue growth potential. The company is certainly living up to very high expectations in this regard having posted 14% organic growth in H1 2017, something those who can remember the dark days of 2010-12 can still scarcely believe," analysts at Berenberg said in a note.

They predicted that attention would turn to Straumann's margins and profits.

Danish hearing aid producer GN Store Nord was also up 5.9 percent after its second-quarter report.

And QinetiQ Group rose after Barclays upgraded it to "overweight".

So far 85 percent of MSCI Europe firms have given second-quarter updates, of which 60 percent have either met or beaten analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Overall, this points to earnings growth of more than 24 percent for the quarter, compared with the same period last year.

(Reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Alister Doyle)