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European markets finished lower on Wednesday following hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and more sanctions against Russia. 

The pan-European Stoxx600 plunged by 1.6%, with nearly all industries and major bourses decreasing to negative territory. Travel and leisure stocks were the biggest losers with a 3.9% plunge for the session, and healthcare stocks surged slightly by 0.2%. 

During a Minneapolis Fed webinar, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday night that Federal Reserve will have to reduce the balance sheet fast and raise interest rates regularly to curb inflation. Following the comments, major U.S. averages plummeted, while the 10year Treasury yield to a new 2022 high. 

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told the Native American Finance Officers Association that inflation at a 40-year high is "as harmful as not having a job" and assured the group that the Fed is ready to take action. 

Anneka Treon, managing director at Kempen, told CNBC on Wednesday that the "bandage" of the Fed put — the market belief that the Fed will step in to implement policies limiting a stock market pullback — has "essentially been ripped off altogether."

"Regardless of whether we are entering an official recession — when that might happen, what the technicalities of the yield curve is telling us — what we know for certain is we are entering a growth slowdown situation; what we know for certain is that the path of inflation is far more unknown than we thought it was," she told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe," adding that this means higher volatility ahead for investors.

U.S. stocks plunged for a second consecutive day as investors lie await the release of the Fed’s Tuesday meeting minutes.  Shares in Asia-Pacific have also plummeted on Wednesday. 

Ams OSRAM shares plunged 9.6 to the bottom of the Stoxx 600, continuing Tuesday’s declines the electronics company's Capital Markets Day failed to convince investors.