European stocks have lost a month’s gains in a single day

European stocks are sharply lower on Friday, extending losses seen on Thursday, and erasing an entire month’s gains, pushed downwards by a pretty uninspiring set of European PMI figures, a fall in the price of oil, and despite strong jobs data from the USA. Just after 2:40 p.m. BST (9:40 a.m. ET) most of Europe’s biggest indexes are off by more than 2%, with the DAX in Germany near the bottom of the pile, down more than 2.5%.

Here’s how the DAX looked a few minutes ago:

Investing.com

Elsewhere, the FTSE 100 is down 1.3%, while the CAC 40 in France is off 2.66%. The Euro Stoxx 50 broad index, which provides a snapshot of Europe’s biggest companies, has dived 2.76%. Here’s the scoreboard for the rest of Europe:

• Spain’s IBEX 35 — down 2%
• Italy’s FTSE MIB — down 1.94%
• The Netherlands’ AEX — down 2.16%
• Belgium’s BEL 20 — down 1.3%
• Switzerland’s SMI — down 2.18%

The European slide comes despite a strong set of PMI data from China, which showed that activity in the country’s manufacturing sector jumped for the first time in eight months. That seems to signal that the worst of China’s manufacturing slump could be over, but investors don’t seem to be convinced.

Here’s what Mike van Dulken of Accendo Markets had to say a little earlier:

European bourses are starting the second quarter in the red,unimpressed by either China PMI rebounds (seasonality?) or solid PMI reports from Europe. Focus may well have reverted to global growth headwinds after poor Japanese Manufacturing sentiment reports overnight. This is further undoing the recent excitement from a surprisingly dovish speech from Fed chair Yellen. An oil price languishing around recent lows is adding to the fray (please, forget any production freeze)