EUROPEAN STOCKS fell to a five-month low as reports showed the number of jobs in the US increased at the slowest pace in a year and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose, adding to weakening economic data from China and the euro area.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 1.9 per cent to 235.09 at the close of trading in London, completing a weekly loss of 3.1 per cent.
The benchmark measure slumped 6.8 per cent in May as concern mounted that Greece will leave the euro area and Spain’s borrowing costs increased.
“It’s not a good day for the bulls,” said Philippe Gijsels, a market research analyst at BNP Paribas Fortis Capital Markets in Brussels.
“The slowdown is global. We are seeing it everywhere from Europe to China and now in the US, [which] had seemed a little bit immune so far,” he said.
“Risky assets are coming down, and safe havens are doing even better.”
US payrolls climbed by 69,000 last month after a revised 77,000 gain in April that was smaller than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed.
The median estimate called for a 150,000 May advance.
The jobless rate rose to 8.2 per cent from 8.1 per cent, while hours worked declined.
Euro-area unemployment reached the highest on record as a deepening economic slump and budget cuts prompted companies from Spain to Italy to cut jobs.
The jobless rate was at 11 per cent in April and March, the European Union’s statistics office said. That’s the highest since the data series started in 1995.
The March figure was revised up to 11 per cent from 10.9 per cent. – (Bloomberg)
