European shares remained under pressure on Friday after much stronger than expected U.S. jobs data raised concerns the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates as soon as next month to cool the economy. The Department of Labor said non-farm payrolls added 288,000 in April, easily beating economists expectations for a gain of around 173,000, although markets had been positioned for a higher number. This follows a similarly strong number for March.
"These numbers are much stronger than expected and make markets anticipate a more robust and sooner rate hike, probably 50 basis points or more and as soon as June, despite the Fed's gradualist approach," said equities strategist Valerie Plagnol from CIC Securities in Paris. By 1242 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index <.FTEU3> of pan-European blue chips was 0.3 percent lower at 991.6 points while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index <.STOXX50E> shed 0.5 percent to 2,751.2 points. The indexes had been down about 0.3 percent ahead of the data. U.S. stock futures were pointing to a weaker opening on Wall Street. French oil major Total was a positive feature, up 1.1 percent to 158.40 euros after its first-quarter earnings topped analysts forecasts.///