Stock futures climb as market rally takes a breather: Live updates

Manufacturing in Singapore surged 14.2% in February on a month-on-month basis, a sharp reversal from the revised 6.7% decline in January and far surpassing Reuters’ expectations of a 3.1% rise.

On a year-on-year basis, manufacturing output was up 3.8%, also beating the 0.5% rise expected in the Reuters poll.

Singapore’s economic development board said that all clusters of the country’s manufacturing sector expanded in February, except for the general manufacturing and precision engineering sector.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s services producer price index climbed 2.1% year over year in February, according to official data.

The services PPI had risen at the same rate in January as well.

The Bank of Japan ended its experiment with negative rates last week, along with other unconventional easing tools that were aimed at reflating its economy.

Markets in Japan traded higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 index trading well about the 40,000 level. The broader Topix index was up 0.08%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

South Korea’s Kospi hit its highest level in over two years on Tuesday as major chip stocks rose.

The index shot to 2,769, its highest level since Feb. 10, 2022.

The Kospi has posted a 15% gain over the past 12 months, and a 4.93% climb since the start of 2024.

The index was powered by gains in heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which rose 1.66% and 3.25%, respectively.

The New York Stock Exchange notified troubled electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker that it will suspend trading in the stock and begin proceedings to delist the company.

NYSE Regulation pointed to Fisker’s “abnormally low” trading price as a factor in its decision, the company said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares were halted earlier on Monday, and at the time they were valued at about 9 cents apiece.

News of the upcoming delisting arrives after talks over a potential deal between Fisker and an unnamed large automaker collapsed.

The stock has slid about 95% in 2024, and it’s off more than 98% in the past year.

–Darla Mercado

The market soared to new highs last week, following the March FOMC meeting. But Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, believes that a selloff could be on the horizon for equities.

“We’re coming off of a post-FOMC high,” he told CNBC in a Monday interview. “The market is getting more and more vulnerable to a market decline or a pullback in prices.”

Still, investors remain in more cyclical sectors, with Stovall seeing an improvement in activity in the energy, industrials and materials categories.

“They are continuing to say that the market will likely benefit from lower interest rates and see its effect on the more cyclical sectors,” he remarked. “I don’t see investors taking a very defensive position at this point. Instead of going into staples, healthcare and utilities, they’re likely to continue to gravitate towards materials, industrials and energy.”

— Lisa Kailai Han