European stocks close lower as traders focus on earnings and bond yields

This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets.

European markets closed lower Wednesday as investors in the region focused on corporate reports and U.S. Treasury yields.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed around 0.3% lower, with most sectors and major bourses in the red.

There were earnings aplenty on Wednesday, with Deutsche Bank beating expectations in its return to profit in the three months to September. Shares of the German lender continued their decline after a German court ruled against the company in a long-standing legal dispute with shareholders who alleged the lender underpaid in its acquisition of German retail bank Postbank.

Meanwhile,Heineken was last up 2.6% and Swedbank up 5%. Volvo Cars traded 5.9% lower, AkzoNobel was down 3.5% and L'Oreal fell 2.5% after the firms reported earnings earlier.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has been on an upturn of late, briefly topping 4.2% on Tuesday and keeping stocks under pressure. U.S. stocks fell Wednesday as traders kept a close eye on bond yield movements. Asia-Pacific markets saw more positive trade overnight.

Canada's central bank on Wednesday took a big step in easing monetary policy by cutting its key benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 3.75%.

The Bank of Canada said it expects the global economy to expand at a rate of about 3% over the next two years, noting that U.S. growth is set to be stronger than previously forecast. The inflation rate in Canada came in at 1.6% in September, down from an inflation print of 2% in August.

"We took a bigger step today because inflation is now back to the 2% target and we want to keep it close to the target," Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said in comments reported by Reuters.

The central bank said