European and U.S. stock markets fell Tuesday after the U.S. government said the U.S. economy did not grow as fast in the third quarter as previously estimated, stoking fears that the recovery in the world's largest economy will be slow.

In its second estimate for growth in the three months through September, the Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product was up by an annualized rate of 2.8 percent, down from the 3.5 percent previously published.