By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets were broadly lower in choppy trade on Thursday, after a mixed bag of earnings from the region's companies and downbeat comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.2% to 288.05, adding to a 0.6% loss from Wednesday.

Shares of Ericsson LM posted the biggest gains in the index, up 8.1%, after the telecom-equipment supplier said it expects profitability to improve in the second half of 2013.

On a downbeat note, shares of AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) sank 3.6%. The U.K. drug maker warned in its quarterly earnings report that sharp declines in revenue and earnings would continue through 2013 after it lost patents on key drugs.

For the broader European stock markets, investors looked to the prior day's moves on Wall Street, where stocks retreated from a five-year high on the back of a surprise contraction on fourth-quarter growth.

Additionally, the Federal Reserve maintained its aggressive monetary- easing program, citing downside risks to the economic outlook. The central bank noted that growth in economic activity paused in recent months, although mainly due to weather and other transitory factors.

Back in Europe, most banks were under selling pressure. Shares of Santander SA (SAN) gave up 1.9% after the bank's fourth-quarter earnings missed analyst expectations and net interest income declined from the year-earlier period.

Spain's IBEX 35 index slumped 1.3% to 8,463.10.

In the U.K., shares of Barclays PLC (BCS) shed 1.1%, while sector heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) gave up 0.5%.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) was also lower in London, down 1.5%, after the oil group posted fourth-quarter results below views.

France's CAC 40 index lost 0.5% to 3,746.81, with shares of Credit Agricole SA down 3.7%.

Shares of Essilor International SA slid 2.6% as Exane BNP Paribas cut the maker of contact lenses to neutral from outperform.

Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.3% to 7,791.95.

Shares of Deutsche Bank AG (DB) nudged 0.8% higher after the firm said it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter to clean up its business, but that underlying performance improved.

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