Are there modern manual-focus Nikon F-mount lenses that meter on a Nikon D40?

Short answer: no.
Long answer: As of now Nikon is producing and selling some "modern" MF lenses, they're all primes:

20mm f/2.8
24mm f/2.8
28mm f/2.8
35mm f/1.4
50mm f/1.2
50mm f/1.4
55mm f/2.8 Micro

I'm not sure about the 105mm f/2.8 Micro.

Also they make three tilt-shift lenses which they call PC-E, in 24mm, 45mm and 85mm focal lengths. These are MF, with some added feature, like "One-touch preset aperture operation" (I don't know what it means), and some problems, e.g. you can't mount all of them on some cameras, because of the shape of the barrel.

http://www.nikonsupport.eu/europe/Manuals/DrdIaQvRZv/LCC2.6.1En.xls
This chart shows all cameras "below" the D300 don't even meter with MF lenses, while from the D300 "up" you get center metering. Color metering can be done giving the camera some data about the lens. Matrix metering can't be done. Recording focus distance is not even mentioned, but we can take it one such thing doesn't exist on MF lenses, as they supposedly have no electronics involved in focusing.
As for focus indications, you always have that, but in my experience it's just a blinking dot (as opposed to the "electronic rangefinder") if you are in M mode, which is the only way to shoot your camera with MF lenses.

http://www.nikonsupport.eu/europe/Manuals/672348BSSd1pQYo/MFLens_En.pdf
You can have a look at this to a list of Nikon MF lenses (both zooms and primes), maybe some of those will fit your needs.

Also the best AF-S lenses have a good smooth focusing ring, but they're expensive, and it would be overkill to get one of those just for MF work.

Anyway if you work in a controlled environment, or at least you can take your time, it's not hard to live with the limitations of older half-compatible MF lenses. Even nailing the exposure is quite easy (at least, easier than focus, if you don't do still life). I'm curious: what kind of shots do you want to do that make you favour MF lenses?

Update: I just found by chance Voigtländer has some nice CPU equipped F-mount lenses, but they sure don't come cheap, even though they're not very expensive.
Also I saw Paul Pacurar's answer, and it dawned on me that in my answer I had not even considered brands other than Nikon.
Samyang has really good prices for what they do, but if you just want to spend little money and have some nice lens you're better off with old Nikon lenses than with any other brand.
E.g. Tokina makes amazing lenses at good prices, I've been drooling over their 11-16mm/2.8, even thought I'm not a heavy wide-angle user, but it's still some money, and it's getting more expensive and harder to find.
Tamron and Sigma make some great stuff and some sh*tty stuff, still it's all priced accordingly. No "out-of-fashion-still-great" bargains, generally speaking.

One thing you may find interesting, as you were looking for an 85mm/1.8, is Tamron's 90mm 2.8 AF macro, everybody says it's very good, and it's as cheap as it gets for a fast prime lens in that focal length range. Not as fast as 1.8, but quite appealing for portraits, at least to me. Also, I'm looking forward to get an old used 100mm/3.5 macro Cosina rebranded Voigtländer at a local shop. I wouldn't call that a fast lens, but you can get it for really really cheap and it gets nice reviews.