Global stocks fell, led by the biggest drop in Japanese shares since the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, while metals sank as Chinese manufacturing unexpectedly contracted and speculation mounted the Federal Reserve will cut bond purchases. The yen and Treasuries rose.

U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a second day, as data showed Chinese manufacturing unexpectedly shrank and speculation mounted the Federal Reserve will cut bond purchases.

Fewer Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the job market is sustaining recent gains.

Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday’s killing of a soldier in London by two men wielding knives and meat cleavers was a “betrayal of Islam” as the police probe into the murder widened to eastern England.

China’s manufacturing is contracting in May for the first time in seven months, adding to signs that economic growth is losing steam for a second quarter.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the largest personal-computer maker, rose the most in three months after forecasting fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates on cost cuts aimed at countering slumping demand for desktops and laptops.

Japan’s Topix index tumbled almost 7 percent, the most since the aftermath of the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, as financial firms slid amid rising bond yields. Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures traded in Osaka and Singapore fell in after-hours trade, signaling further declines.

Tumblr Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Karp, a 26-year-old who started the company in 2007, signed a note announcing Yahoo! Inc.’s $1.1 billion acquisition with the closing, “F--- yeah.”