Today's stocks: Hong Kong shares lead Asian markets, developer Vanke slips

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong stocks led Asian markets higher Tuesday as Chinese property developer Vanke fell more than 10% while investors assessed economic data from South Korea and Australia.

U.S. Futures Lower, Oil Prices Higher.

The Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.3% to 39,936.35, recovering from Monday's decline.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.7% to 16,981.43, while the Shanghai Composite Heel Index rose 0.1% to 3,080.51.

Vanke's Hong Kong-listed shares tumbled 11.4% on Tuesday morning after the company announced last week that it would not pay a dividend and that its core profit for 2023 had fallen by a whopping 50.6%. China made a rare intervention in March, asking banks to provide financing for Vanke.

In South Korea, the Kospi Index rose 0.1% to 2,750.63 as data showed that consumer prices in the country rose 3.1% in March compared to the same month a year ago, unchanged from the previous month's increase.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained just under 0.1% to 7,900.50, as the Koon Manufacturing Index contracted at its fastest pace since May 2020, from 47.8 points in February to 47.3 points in March.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% from its all-time high to close at 5243.77 on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% from its all-time high to close at 39,566.85 points. The Nasdaq Resonance Index (Nasdaq composite) was the exception, rising 0.1% to close at 16,396.83 points.

FedEx fell 3.3% after the company said it did not extend its domestic airfreight carriers contract with the U.S. Postal Service, which is set to expire on September 29th. Donald Trump's social media company, Trump Media& Technology Group, lost more than a fifth of its value in another wild trading day.

Universal Health Services fell 4%, making it one of the biggest losers in the S&P 500. The company said an Illinois jury awarded $535 million to a patient who claimed he was negligent in a sexual assault case involving another patient.

Newmont helped control losses. As gold prices continued to set new records, the trader's stock rose 1.6%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields soared after a report said the U.S. manufacturing sector unexpectedly returned to growth last month. According to the Institute for Supply Management, the U.S. manufacturing sector ended a 16-month contraction.

This is the latest evidence that the U.S. economy remains strong despite high interest rates. This is a positive for the stock market, as it can boost corporate profits. But it also puts upward pressure on inflation. This, in turn, means the Fed will be more hesitant to cut interest rates, which investors want.

Following the release of the manufacturing data, traders on Wall Street briefly trimmed their bets that the Fed will cut interest rates for the first time as soon as June. Economists at Deutsche Bank argued that this was still a "carpe diem" expectation, but said that recent tough talk from Fed officials could suggest that rates would remain higher for longer than earlier thought.

The Federal Reserve has raised key interest rates to the highest level since 2001 in an effort to slow economic growth, depress investment prices and thus control inflation. Anticipation of future rate cuts was the main reason the S&P 500 Index surged above 20% from October through March.

Several economic reports that could sway the Fed's thinking will be released this week, including an update on the nation's job creation and the strength of the U.S. service sector. The headlines will be released on Friday, and economists expect the reports to show a slight cooling in hiring over the last month.

The slowdown will be welcomed by Wall Street, which wants the economy to remain solid but doesn't want it to be so strong that it pushes up inflation. Inflation is now more moderate than at its peak nearly two years ago. But progress has gotten rougher lately, and this year's report is hotter than expected.

In other trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 40 cents to $84.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The international standard Brent crude oil rose 34 cents to $87.76 a barrel.

The dollar rose to 151.66 yen from 151.63 yen. The euro exchange rate was at US$1.0735, lower than US$1.0743.