Jobs data were downbeat in Europe as well, as unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro spiked to a ten-year high in May, reinforcing concerns that any recovery will take time with so many people out of work.

Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU, said the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for the euro zone in May was 9.5 percent, up from April's 9.3 percent.

Since unemployment is a lagging indicator, the number of jobless will likely continue to rise for a while even when the recession officially ends. Despite recent hopes that the global economic downturn may be easing, investors are fully aware that high unemployment levels will continue to weigh on consumption and sentiment for many months and years.

As the payrolls news came, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet was holding his monthly press briefing following the governing council's decision to keep its interest rate unchanged at the record low of 1 percent.

Trichet noted some early signs of economic improvement while maintaining his view that recovery will take time and that the central bank will continue trying to get banks to lend again by massive injections of liquidity.

Stocks around the world managed to achieved one of the best quarters in years during the second quarter — the S&P 500 index in the U.S., for example, rose around 16 percent during the quarter, its best performance since 1998 — amid hopes of a recovery around the world despite ongoing worries about the global banking system, public finances and the length and depth of the recession.

Earlier, most Asian markets fell, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average closing down 63.78 points, or 0.6 percent, at 9,876.15, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 200.68 points, or 1.1 percent, to 18,178.05.