Stock market today: World markets extend losses after Wall Street drifts lower

BANGKOK — Shares slipped in Europe and Asia on Thursday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen headed to China seeking to soothe friction between the two largest economies.

Germany’s DAX lost 1% to 15,773.57 and the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 1.7% to 7,190.42. Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.2% to 7,352.98. The future for the S&P 500 was 0.4% lower while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%.

Share prices had soared recently amid signs the U.S. economy is stronger than had been feared, fending off recession so far despite high interest rates.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting released Wednesday showed that some central bank officials wanted to raise rates in mid-June, though in the end they voted unanimously to keep rates steady. The threat of further rate hikes has been weighing on investor sentiment.

The next major focus for the U.S. will be jobs…