Euro Shares Sink on Grim US Jobs Data

European stocks slid more than 4 percent on Friday, as investors on both sides of the Atlantic reeled at grim U.S. unemployment data, and with oils and bank stocks leading the decline.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index unofficially closed down 4.2 percent at 792.3 points. 

Wall Street indexes were down between 2 and 3 percent as the European market closed.

Government data showed U.S. employers axed payrolls by a shocking 533,000 in November for the weakest performance in 34 years, signaling an acceleration of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

Among Europe's banks, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, UniCredit and Royal Bank of Scotland closed between 5.5 percent and 7.2 percent lower.

"Markets received a jolt of pain as U.S. employment numbers came in," said David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com.

"Today's figures were the worst for three decades and are yet another instance to add to the ever growing pile of 'once in a generation' type extremes that we've seen in 2008," Evans said.

Energy stocks languished as crude slid towards $41 a barrel. BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Tullow Oil and Total slipped between 6.7 percent and 8.8 percent.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index unofficially ended down 3.3 percent, Germany's DAX lost 4 percent and France's CAC 40 fell 5.5 percent.

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