A surprise leap in new U.S. jobs and much stronger than expected news from Britain's dominant services sector have bolstered hopes of a new-year rebound on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stock markets surged as the world's largest economy reported an unexpected fall in unemployment along with buoyant business activity.

The news propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close since before the 2008 financial crisis. The Dow jumped 156.82 points to 12,862.23, its highest mark since 19 May 2008, about four months before Lehman Brothers investment bank collapsed.

In the UK there was similar upbeat news from a survey suggesting services companies enjoyed their strongest growth in activity for almost a year in January. But economists were quick to cautioned against reading too much into the new-year bounce, stressing that households remained under severe strain and businesses faced continued uncertainties, particularly around the euro-zone debt crisis.

Athens is under pressure to wrap up talks on a bond swap and a €130 billion (£108 billion) bailout to avert a chaotic default, but hopes of an imminent deal faded after euro-zone finance ministers put off a meeting expected on Monday to finalize the rescue. It came as Greek unions and employers' associations blocked a critical element of an E.U. rescue deal, accusing negotiators of crippling the economy with wage cuts and tax rises that will undermine growth.

But in Britain, France and Germany, leading share indices all added more than 1.5% after the closely watched U.S. non-farm payrolls reported the fastest jobs growth in nine months. The 243,000 jobs added in January were well above market expectations of a 150,000 gain. The Labor department said the jobless rate fell to 8.3%, the lowest for three years, from 8.5% in December.

Hackers from the group Anonymous have broadcast a private conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard exposing details of an international cyber-crime investigation, the FBI has confirmed.

The FBI and Scotland Yard admitted that the security of the call had been breached.

Investigators can be heard discussing their joint inquiry into a cyber-crime investigation going through the British courts, and linked to investigations in New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Ireland.

It is understood the breach occurred at the U.S. end of the call. As the news broke, Anonymous began taunting the FBI, asking if it was curious about how the group could keep reading the bureau's internal communications.

Investigators can be heard on the broadcast talking about named individuals who have been charged in the U.K. with hacking into the website of the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA).

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have braved temperatures of -18-degree Celsius in Moscow to march through the city shouting "Russia without Putin" and calling for a rerun of disputed elections.

In the latest of a series of mass gatherings since allegations of widespread government vote-rigging at the parliamentary poll on December 4, the protesters walked an agreed route from Oktyabrskaya metro station to Bolotnaya Square, near the Kremlin.