European stock markets fell to new session lows on Wednesday, after Wall Street lurched into negative territory as disappointing U.S. services data offset an upbeat report on unemployment.
Towards the end of the European trading session, France’s CAC 40 was down 0.58%; Germany's DAX fell 0.95%; Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.85%; and the EURO STOXX 50 slipped 1.13%.
The euro, meanwhile, plummeted against the dollar, hitting 1.3910. Earlier in the day, the single European currency had broken above the psychological level of 1.400 to hit a fresh 4-day high.
Earlier Wednesday, the payroll processing company Automatic Data Processing said U.S. employers cut 22,000 non-farm jobs in the private sector in January, less than analysts had forecast.
The report was quickly followed by the Institute of Supply Management's release of its Non-Manufacturing Index for January. The index came in at 50.5, lower than the reading of 51 that analysts had expected.