BERLIN, Oct 14, 2008 (AFP) - Gathering storm clouds cast a pall Tuesday over efforts to combat the global financial crisis despite an upsurge on the markets, with two of Europe's biggest economies said to be on the brink of recession.

While stock exchanges enjoyed big rises off the back of stimulus packages and pledges to shore up banks in Europe worth more than a trillion euros, downbeat data highlighted how the turbulence had affected jobs and growth.

A downgraded forecast from the Bank of France, which predicted growth would drop to minus 0.1 percent in the third quarter, showed the country was heading into recession after a 0.3 percent contraction in the previous three months.

And a group of leading economic think tanks in Germany said that Europe's biggest economy was likely to grow only at around 0.2 percent in 2009.

'In the autumn of 2008, the German economy is on the brink of a recession,' the six institutes wrote in their latest economic outlook.

Germany's closely watched ZEW economic indicator also plunged by 21.9 points in results gathered in the heat of the international financial crisis.

In London, figures from the continent's other major economy showed Britain's inflation rate surged to a 16-year high point of 5.2 percent in September.

The figures took much of the shine off bounces in stock markets which all lapped up announcements Monday from countries in the single currency eurozone that they would make a total of 1.8 billion euros available to ailing banks.

In morning deals on Tuesday, the Paris stock market jumped 4.18 percent, a day after rising more than 11 percent, its largest ever one-day gain.

London was up 3.40 percent in early trading, Frankfurt was 3.14-percent higher early on and Madrid rose 3.31 percent.

Meanwhile the Nikkei stock index posted its biggest ever gain, skyrocketing more than 14 percent, after the Bank of Japan said it injected 2.0 trillion yen (19.4 billion dollars) into the Tokyo money market.

And as President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson prepared to unveil the next step in the US response, the leading Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a gain of some 11 percent on Wall Street.

In its boldest move yet to fend off the crisis, the US Treasury is expected to announce a plan to invest 250 billion dollars in potentially thousands of American banks, including the nation's largest.

Bush on Monday promised 'responsible, decisive action to restore credit and stability and return to vigorous growth.'

The rescue package announced Monday by Germany alone included 400 billion euros (545 billion dollars) in loan guarantees and 80 billion euros in fresh capital, while France said it would guarantee up to 320 billion euros (436 billion dollars) of lending between banks.

Australia also launched a 7.25 billion US dollar economic stimulus package Tuesday which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said was intended to address concerns that the crisis was moving beyond dramatic losses in share values to pose a threat to his country's solid economic growth.

'The global financial crisis has entered into a new dangerous and damaging phase, one that goes to the real economy -- growth and jobs,' Rudd said.

An editorial in London's Financial Times said the reaction of governments may work but said there should be no illusions about the extent of the crisis.

'The scale of the response is indicative of the depth of this financial crisis -- arguably the worst of the past century,' it said.

The European Central Bank's chief economist said the huge rescue plans should not mean officials have 'carte blanche' to loosen public purse strings.

Aid packages were not 'a carte blanche for eurozone governments to freely widen budget deficits and public debt,' Juergen Stark told the German financial daily Boersen Zeitung in an interview.

There was also grim news on the jobs front, with the Japanese automaker Nissan announcing Monday it would cut 1,680 jobs in Barcelona, while the troubled German memory chip maker Qimonda unveiled a restructuring programme which would affect 3,000 jobs.