LONDON — European stocks closed lower Friday afternoon, paring earlier gains after a weaker than expected U.S. jobs report clouded global sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 1.15%, with all major bourses and almost all sectors ending in the red. Tech and mining stocks saw the biggest losses, shedding 2.39% and 2.41%, respectively. Health care stocks were a rare outlier, up just 0.02%.
The benchmark ended the week down 2.5%, marking its biggest weekly loss since the early August sell-off.
The fall follows declines on Wall Street after the August jobs report showed payrolls rose 142,000, less than the 161,000 forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate met expectations for a decline to 4.2% from 4.3%.
U.S. stocks sunk in morning trade, with the S&P 500 falling 1.63% and heading for its worst week since April. The Nasdaq also slumped 2.48%.
A slew of data from the U.S. has already come in …