Fears of "contamination" of larger world economies by the stricken eurozone have sent world stock markets spiralling.

The weakest US jobs growth in a year, and statistics suggesting expansion in Chinese manufacturing almost ground to a halt last month, damaged any confidence that the world's largest economies will ride out Europe's storm.

Just 69,000 jobs were created in the US in May, alongside rising unemployment, prompting Barack Obama to concede that America's economy was not creating jobs "as fast as we want". But he stressed the economy would improve, saying: "We will come back stronger. We do have better days ahead."

The Dow Jones closed down 275 points, the biggest fall since November, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both lower.

The UK economy shows signs of derailing as well, with figures showing the second sharpest fall in 20 years in the manufacturing sector, according to the Markit/CIPS survey.

In London the FTSE 100 fell 60.7 points to 5260 and declines were even heavier on markets in Germany and France, with the Dax down three per cent and the CAC 40 off two per cent.