Global Shares Slide After More Losses on Wall Street

BANGKOK (AP) -- Shares were lower in Europe and Asia on Friday after a late afternoon sell-off wiped out gains for stocks on Wall Street.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.9% to 7,518.47, while the DAX in Germany declined 1.2% to 15,720.00. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.2% to 7,110.09. The future for the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% while the future for the Dow industrials was flat.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.78% from 1.83% late Thursday.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 lost 1.1% to a three-month low, with nearly 85% of stocks in the index falling. It's now down 6% for the year.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.9%.

In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.9% to 27,522.26 after Toyota Motor Corp. announced production cuts due to parts shortages.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged 0.1% higher, regaining earlier losses, to 24,965.55. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.9% to 3,526.19.

Hong Kong-traded shares in e-commerce giant Alibaba fell 4.4% after a Chinese-made documentary suggested its financial arm might be implicated in a corruption probe.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney dropped 2.3% to 7,175.80. South Korea's Kospi slid 1.1% to 2,830.82. Thailand's benchmark fell 0.5%.

Investors are bracing for higher interest rates and stocks are headed for weekly losses in what has so far been a losing month.

Surging coronavirus cases have added to jitters over supply chain problems that are disrupting manufacturing.

Investors are closely watching to see how U.S. employment data might affect the Federal Reserve approach to weaning the economy of its support by raising interest rates.

The Labor Department provided a disappointing update, reporting Thursday that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant continued to disrupt the job market.

The job market has had a rocky recovery from the virus pandemic though the unemployment rate fell last month to a pandemic low of 3.9%.

The Fed is now expected to raise rates earlier and more often than it had previously signaled to fight inflation that is threatening the economic recovery. Supply chain problems and higher raw materials costs have prompted businesses to raise prices on finished goods, leading consumers to eventually rein in spending.

The latest round of corporate earnings is also giving investors a clearer picture of where Americans are spending money and how inflation is impacting the economy.

In other trading, U.S. crude oil lost $1.61 to $83.94 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It shed 25 cents to $85.80 on Thursday.

Brent crude oil, the basis for pricing international oil, lost $1.43 to $86.93 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar fell to 113.83 Japanese yen from 114.10 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1327 from $1.1313.