Markets also reacted to the announcement of the bailout of First Republic Bank by the United States on Monday and its subsequent sale to JPMorgan, which has reignited concerns about a possible global banking crisis, and to the results of Europe's largest bank, HSBC, which reported a tripling of quarterly profit above expectations.
In the macroeconomic picture, eurozone core inflation, a closely watched measure that excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell in April for the first time since January 2022, although it remained at a very high 7.3%, according to Eurostat data.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. job openings fell for the third consecutive month in March, but remained at levels consistent with a tight labor market.
Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market closed down 159.00 points on Tuesday, or 1.72%, to 9,082.00 points, the worst session since March 24.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks lost 1.23%.
In the banking sector, Santander lost 2.59%, BBVA retreated 3.70%, Caixabank gave up 2.54%, Sabadell fell 3.47%, Bankinter dropped 4.66% and Unicaja Banco lost 1.41%.
Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 1.89%, Inditex dropped 1.06%, Iberdrola dropped 0.21%, Cellnex fell 1.31% and the oil company Repsol lost 4.72%.
Among the rest of the electricity companies, Naturgy fell 1.98%, while Endesa dropped 0.74%.
(Information by Benjamín Mejías Valencia; edited by Javier Leira)