Europe Shares Tank on US Jobs Data
European shares plummeted on Friday after U.S. jobs data came in well below expectations, raising concerns that the recovery in the world's largest economy is weakening.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index traded 1.9 percent down at 1,157.80, before rebounding slightly, after U.S. non-farm payrolls data showed just 88,000 jobs were created in March, compared to forecasts of 200,000 jobs.
The labor force participation rate was at its lowest since 1979 at 63.3 percent in March, against 63.5 percent in February. The report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked lower to 7 .6 percent from a figure of 7.7 percent last month.
(Read More: US Job Creation Plunges, but Rate Drops to 7.6%)
"This is a very weak labor market," Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University economics professor told CNBC Friday. "We'll be lucky if we have 2 percent growth again this year."
The euro was sharply higher against the dollar after the news, and European shares fell to their lowest since the end of February.
In stock news, restructuring specialist Hilco sealed a deal on Friday to rescue HMV, which had entered administration. Previously, the British high street firm firm had around 230 stores and employed over 4,000 staff.
Earlier on Friday, Spanish fishing company Pescanova said it would file for insolvency after failing to reach an agreement with its creditors following more than a month of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) traded 3.10 percent higher after its upgrade by both UBS and Liberum Capita to "buy".
However, plummeted 7.53 percent after Deutsche cuts its outlook on the British gaming company to "hold". And Easyjet fell 6.93 percent after it forecast a loss for the first half of 2013 and Numis downgraded it to "hold".
Better news came from Italian fashion house Prada, which posted a record quarterly profit, as strong sales in Asia offset weakness in Europe.