European stocks remained under pressure on Friday in reaction to weaker US jobs data. Moreover investors were also extremely cautious ahead of elections in France and in Greece. Moreover, business activity data in the single currency region also disappointed investors. As per the latest report of the US Labor Department, 115,000 jobs were created in April as compared to expectations of 163,000 while the unemployment rate in US stood at 8.1 percent as compared to 8.2 percent in prior month. Wall Street also ended on a bearish note in reaction to sluggish economic data.

European data also disappointed the investors as the Markit composite purchasing managers’ index for the region fell to 46.7 in April as compared to the reading of 79.1 in the month of March. As per a rule of thumb reading below 50 depicts contraction in the economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1.8 percent or to 253 for the day while was down 2.4 percent for the week. London’s FTSE 100 index dropped 1.9 percent to close at 5,655.06 accumulating its loss to 2.1 percent for the week. The major losers included BP PLC plunging by 3.1 percent, BG Group reporting downward movement of 4.3 percent while Royal Dutch Shell declined 2 percent for the day. BHP Billiton PLC and Rio Tinto PLC also fell 3.9 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.

France’s CAC-40 index declined 1.9 percent to settle at 3,161.97 whereas the index fell 3.2 percent for the week. Among the top decliners was Alstom SA which fell by 4.3 percent on disappointing quarterly results.

In Germany, DAX 30 index fell 2 percent to 6,561.47 while was down 3.5 percent for the week. Major decliners included Metro AG which declined 2.7 percent, BMW AG which dropped 3.8 percent while Daimler AG slipped 3.5 percent for the day.