Weak data affirms sombre economic mood

By Tom Bergin and Tomasz Janowski

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Financial markets ended the week on a sober note after economic data, including weak U.S. jobs numbers, tempered hopes of a rapid economic recovery.

Euro zone PMI and retail sales data released on Friday reinforced a view created by bigger than expected U.S. job losses in June that the global economy is still struggling to pull out of recession.

European and Asian stocks fell, mainly on Thursday's U.S. jobs data, in quiet trade due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday.

"Payrolls were a wake up call," said Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets in Paris. "The data showed that the economic recovery remains fragile and more downbeat data is to be expected, particularly on the jobs front."

The euro zone Services Purchasing Managers Index fell slightly in June to 44.7 from 44.8 in May, data provider Markit said on Friday.

A bigger-than-expected 0.4 percent month-on-month drop in euro zone retail sales in May added to concerns that the world's economy is not yet out of the woods.

Peter Straarup, chief executive of Danske Bank, added to the sombre mood by saying he expects the economic recovery to be slow due to banks' constrained liquidity.

"We could be running at the bottom of the U for a long time and when we come back the growth will be limited," he told Reuters in an interview.