Stocks Fall After Trump Iran Warning   05/18 04:50

   World shares mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. 
President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the "clock is ticking" as U.S.-Iran 
negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

   HONG KONG (AP) -- World shares mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on 
Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the "clock is 
ticking" as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

   U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled back from 
their records. In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 
10,205.31. France's CAC 40 lost 0.9% to 7,883.42, and Germany's DAX dropped 
0.1% to 23,925.82.

   During Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led 
by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last 
week above 63,000.

   The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, 
its highest level since the late 1990s. That's part of a broader shift toward 
higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher 
energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. The yield was around 2.55% 
just one week ago.

   Seoul's Kospi climbed 0.3% to 7,516.04 after trading lower earlier in the 
day. It crossed the 8,000 mark for the first time on Friday, supported by 
buying of technology shares driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, but 
later declined partly on profit-taking by investors.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 25,675.18. The Shanghai Composite index 
edged 0.1% lower to 4,131.53, after China reported weaker-than-expected 
economic data for April.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.5% to 8,505.30.

   Taiwan's Taiex dropped 0.7%, while India's Sensex fell less than 0.1%.

   Oil prices rose after Trump warned Iran in a social media post that "the 
Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything 
left of them" following a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

   Trump has set deadlines for Iran and then backed off, so investors have 
remained cautious about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and how it is 
impacting global energy flows, including oil and gas. The strait is still 
mostly closed, and the U.S. has also imposed its own sea blockade on Iranian 
ports since last month.

   A drone strike over the weekend on a United Arab Emirates' nuclear power 
plant added to worries over a potential escalation in the conflict.

   Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.7% to $110.05 per barrel. 
It was trading at roughly $70 a barrel in late February before the start of the 
Iran war. Benchmark U.S. crude was trading 1% higher to $106.49 per barrel.

   "Re-escalation risks are increasing," ING commodities strategists Warren 
Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note. While there has also been a 
pick up on shipping activities over the past week around the strait, they said, 
"this can change quickly."

   The pair also noted that the oil market was reacting to the lack of tangible 
results on the Iran war after last week's widely-watched summit between Trump 
and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, even as the White House said both 
the U.S. and China had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

   U.S. officials had hoped that Beijing could use its influence, given its 
economic ties with Iran, to help broker a peace agreement and reopen the 
strait. Trump said last week in an interview that Xi told him China "would like 
to be of help" in negotiating an end to the war. So far it's been unclear how 
Beijing might do that.

   The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at around 4.60%, up from 4.47% 
last Thursday and sharply higher than the nearly 4% level it was holding at 
before the Iran war.

   On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.2% from the record it set the day 
before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% and the technology-heavy 
Nasdaq composite lost 1.5%.

   In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.82 Japanese yen 
from 158.62 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1645, up from $1.1622.