While you were sleeping: UPDATED Global stocks slide as growth concerns rise

Stocks on both sides of the Atlantic dropped amid concern about global economic growth and disappointing corporate earnings.

A report about China's manufacturing sector underpinned concern the country's economy is failing to respond to government efforts to boost the pace of growth.

Europe's Stoxx 600 Index ended the session with a 1.7% drop from the previous close. Shares of UBS and Commerzbank sank on disappointing earnings.

The UK's FTSE 100 index slid 0.9%, France's CAC 40 index fell 1.6%, while Germany's DAX index shed 1.9%.

"What markets need most right now is to see better numbers from the economic indicators in Europe and a better view from companies on their future earnings," Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, a strategist at Deutsche Postbank in Bonn told Bloomberg.

Stocks fall on Wall Street
Wall Street also declined. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 140.25 points, or 0.8%, to 17,750.91 while the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.1% to 4763.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gave up 0.9% to 2063.37.

"We are reacting to the negative news overnight from China and Europe, and investors are waiting for the jobs data," Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst, Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, told Reuters.

Investors will scrutinise the US nonfarm payrolls data on Friday to help gauge the strength of the US economy and the timing of any Federal Reserve rate increases.

"Investors are waiting for better economic data as a justification for the current prices and, until we get the jobs data, we might see some down days," Ms Forrest noted.

Declines in shares of JPMorgan Chase and those of Cisco, down 2.3% and 2% respectively, led the Dow lower. Bucking the trend were shares of Pfizer and those of Apple, up 2.7% and 1.9% respectively.

Shares of Ford Motor traded 1.4% lower as of 3.02 pm, while those of General Motors traded 1.8% weaker, after their latest sales data failed to meet expectations.

Car sales improve
While April car sales data offered improvement from a lacklustre March, there was caution about the outlook.

"The market is not quite as robust as it was last year, and that's what you're starting to see,'' Judy Wheeler, vice-president of sales for Nissan's US business, told Bloomberg. "But it will still be fairly strong.''

US-traded crude fell 2.5% to $US43.65 a barrel, weighing on energy stocks. Among the biggest decliners in the sector were Chesapeake Energy, which fell 12%, and Marathon Oil, which dropped 5.6%.

Shares of Pfizer rose after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and boosted its 2016 sales and profit outlook.

The upgrade reflects "the strong operational performance to date coupled with an improved business outlook for 2016," Pfizer chief executive Ian Read said in a statement. "Changes in foreign exchange rates since mid-January 2016 also favourably impacted our updated guidance."

(BusinessDesk)