AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean

Dec. 27, 2024 - Jan. 2, 2025

A person in a gorilla costume pushed a woman down Sao Silvestre road in São Paulo during a race. Members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) attended an event marking the 31st anniversary of the Zapatista uprising, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. People part of a migrant caravan made their way through Tapachula, Mexico. People rang in the new year in style on the beach in Rio de Janeiro.

This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published in the past week by The Associated Press from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The selection was curated by AP photo editor Jon Orbach, based in Mexico City.

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A woman attends an event celebrating the traditional dance known as "Casino en rueda", when couples dance in a large circle changing partners as they move to the rhythm, in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)

Shamans hold photos of US President-elect Donald Trump, left, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center, and China's President Xi Jinping, during a year-end ritual to make predictions for the next year on the top of San Cristobal hill in Lima, Peru, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

A street is dark during a blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after sunset on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Briceno Medina and his grandfather Gerardo Medina relax on the banks of the Parana River in Villa Gobernador Galvez, Argentina, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Runners compete in the Sao Silvestre road race in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The 15-kilometer race is held annually on New Year's Eve. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

Family and friends mourn over the caskets of brothers Ismael and Josué Arroyo, two of four children who went missing after playing soccer in December, during a wake at the family home in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Taty Almeida, member of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, joins in a protest in front of the Secretary for Human Rights against the layoffs at the secretariat proposed by the government of Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

A couple kisses as fireworks light up the sky over Copacabana Beach during New Year's celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

A migrant carries a child through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, as part of a caravan of migrants trying to reach the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)

Members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) attend an event marking the 31st anniversary of the Zapatista uprising, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos)

A person in a gorilla costume pushes a caged woman as they compete for fun in the Sao Silvestre road race in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The 15-kilometer race is held annually on New Year's Eve. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets were mostly lower on Wednesday after shares slumped on Wall Street despite better-than-expected reports on the U.S. jobs market and business activity.

U.S. futures and oil prices were higher.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 39,981.06. The U.S. dollar was trading at 157.97 yen, down from 158.06.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1% to 19,255.76 and the Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 3,230.17. Shares of Tencent fell 2.4%, and shares in CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, dropped 1.8%. Both companies were included in a list released by the U.S. Defense Department linking them to China’s military.

In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.2% to 2,521.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 8,349.10.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 5,909.03 after giving up an early gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4% to 42,528.36, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.9% to 19,489.68.

Stocks dropped under the weight of rising yields in the bond market, which jumped immediately after the release of the encouraging reports on the economy. One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of November than economists expected. The other said activity for finance, retail and other services businesses grew much faster in December than expected.

The strong reports are of course good news for workers looking for jobs and for anyone worried about a possible recession that earlier seemed inevitable to pessimists. But such a solid economy could also keep up pressure on inflation, and it could make the Federal Reserve less likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.

The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September to give the economy a boost, but it’s hinted a slowdown in easing is coming. The threat of tariffs from President-elect Donald Trump has raised worries about possible upward pressure on inflation, which has stubbornly remained just above the Fed’s 2% target.

Tuesday’s report on U.S. services industries from the Institute for Supply Management also contained discouraging trends on inflation, saying price increases accelerated in December.

Expectations for fewer cuts to interest rates in 2025 have already been building for weeks. That sent longer-term Treasury yields upward. So have worries about other possible Trump policies, such as tax cuts, which could swell the U.S. government’s debt and likewise push yields higher.

Those higher yields make Treasury bonds more attractive to investors who might otherwise buy stocks, which in turn puts downward pressure on stock prices, and the super-safe bonds are paying notably more. The yield on a 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.69% from 4.63% shortly before the release of Tuesday’s reports and from just 4.15% in early December.

Now that worries from the summer about a potentially slowing U.S. economy have abated and the 10-year Treasury yield is firmly above 4.50%, “we believe the market is shifting into a ‘good news is bad news’ environment again,” according to Bank of America strategists led by Ohsung Kwon.

That raises the stakes for Friday’s coming update on the U.S. job market, which economists expect will show a slowdown in overall hiring. They’re looking for growth of 156,500 jobs in December, according to FactSet.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 42 cents to $74.67 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 41 cents to $77.46 a barrel.

In currency trading, the euro cost $1.0346, up from $1.0341.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)