World stocks fell today, Friday, after a disappointing U.S. jobs report and a sluggish euro zone services sector survey reinforced expectations that the process of recovery in the global economy would be long and slow.

U.S. employers cut far more jobs than expected last month and the unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years.

While analysts caution that jobs data is a lagging indicator and unemployment can still rise when the economy is turning around, it was enough to prompt investors to reduce their risk assets especially before a long weekend in the United States.

Furthermore, signs of a recovery in the euro zone’s dominant service sector took a backwards step in June with the final services purchasing manager index coming in at 44.7 in June, down from May’s seven-month high of 44.8.

This marks the thirteenth consecutive month the index has been below the 50.0 mark that divides growth

...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /Well sometimes it never rains but it pours, and as far as Germany is concerned, economically speaking (and my condolences to each and every German for yesterday's tragedy) more than a "rainy season" what we seem to have is a monsoon, with a torrential downpour one day after the next. The lastest piece of bad news comes on the export front, with German exports dropping for a fourth consecutive month in January, as what is still Europe’s largest economy fell ever deeper into what is now its worst recession in 60 years. Working day and seasonally adjusted sales abroad fell 4.4 percent from December (when they dropped 4 percent). According to provisional data from the Federal Statistical Office, Germany exported goods to the value of EUR 66.6 billion and imported commodities to the value of EUR 58.1 billion in January 2009. Exports were thus 20.7% ...

The Germany private sector shrank in February at its sharpest rate in more than a decade in February according to the latest Composite Purchasing Managers reading.br /Final data from Markit economics showed the composite PMI fell to 36.3 from 38.0 in January, the lowest level registered since the series began in January 1998.br /br /blockquote"The German economy remained on a sharp downward trajectory in February as a result of rapidly falling manufacturing output and a marked downshift in the performance of the service sector," said Tim Moore, economist at Markit Economics./blockquoteThe data were consistent with the German econom contracting by some 3 percent this year, Tim Moore added.The German government expects the economy to contract by around 2.25 percent this year, though some economists have gone as suggesting we may see a 5% contraction, and this is more or less the view I hold from what we have ...