As we approach the end of a dismal year for European stocks, the question is: which sector had the worst year of them all?

With a few trading sessions left before the end of 2018, banks and autos are in a tight race to the bottom. As of Thursday's close, lenders are the biggest losers, with a quarter of their market value down the drain, a wipeout of roughly 300 billion euros in shareholders' money.

Banks haven't seen such a bad year since the heat of the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis in 2011.

As the final ECB meeting of the year confirmed, the central bank will keep rates unchanged at least until next summer and the grim outlook for the sector highlighted in one of our earlier Taking Stock columns remains valid.

Any attempt by the sector to break out from its downward trend in 2018 has so far failed.