The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1919 ET - JGBs edge lower in price terms in the morning Tokyo session ahead of the Japanese Finance Ministry's auction today of about 700 billion yen of 30-year government bonds. "While we expect the auction result to be on the weak side, market expectations also look low, so we do not expect any turbulence," SMBC Nikko Securities' Miki Den says in a research report. However, "we expect many market players to remain firmly in wait-and-see mode ahead of the [lower house] election" on Sunday, the senior Japan rates strategist adds. Yield on the 10-year JGBs is up 1bp at 2.255%. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
1846 ET - Japanese stocks may rise as a weaker yen supports hopes for earnings growth. Information technology-related stocks may underperform following weakness in tech stocks on Wall Street overnight. Nikkei futures are up 0.3% at 54610 on the SGX. USD/JPY is at 156.84, compared with 156.27 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are focusing on earnings, with Sony Group and NTT Inc. scheduled to announce their results later Thursday. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8% to 54293.36 on Wednesday. (kosaku.narioka@wsj.com)
1636 ET - Canada's Department of Finance says the government raised C$2 billion from its latest Canadian-dollar-denominated green bond. The final order book for the 10-year bond totaled C$3.4 billion, the department says in a statement. No further details were provided. This marks the sixth issuance of a C$-denominated green bond since March 2022, and brings total proceeds -- used to fund environmentally friendly initiatives -- from such debt to C$17.5 billion. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)
1541 ET - The 10-year Treasury yield rises and the two-year declines amid indications of labor cooldown. ADP says private-sector hiring slowed in January. The payrolls report that was due Friday will be published Wednesday. Economists polled by WSJ expect an increase to 60,000 from December's 50,000, with unemployment steady at 4.4%. The CPI report is pushed back by a couple of days, to Feb. 13. Tomorrow, weekly jobless claims are forecast to increase to 212,000 from 209,000. The 10-year adds 0.004 percentage point, to 4.277%. The two-year is down 0.013 p.p. to 3.558%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
1203 ET - Bitfarms' liquidity is exposed to the falling price of bitcoin. The company is in the midst of transforming from a bitcoin miner to an energy infrastructure company, but mining still remains a core part of the business. In its 3Q the company mined 520 bitcoin, and sold off 185, which propped liquidity of cash $637 million with $177 million in unencumbered bitcoin. However, the price of bitcoin has been rapidly declining, falling sharply to around $73,500 from its peaks over $120,000 in 2025. The drop in prices has compressed margins, as mining economics work against producers in a downturn when network difficulty continues to rise, driving energy and computing costs up while the value of mined coins declines. Shares are down 13% to C$2.76. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1146 ET - Global central banks take different paths this year, a divergence Goldman Sachs economists say will heavily impact currency markets. Among developed economies, Goldman expects Japan, Australia, and New Zealand to increase interest rates in 2026. The U.S., UK, and Norway are projected to cut rates, while the EU, Switzerland, Sweden, and Canada likely hold steady. This policy split "forms an important input to our G10 FX views," the bank says. The WSJ Dollar Index rises 0.3% as the dollar strengthens 0.6% against the yen and 0.2% versus the euro. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
1126 ET - Eurozone inflation is expected to post a relatively limited undershoot to the European Central Bank's target in the months ahead. This shouldn't have much bearing on monetary policy given robust recent economic growth, HSBC economists Fabio Balboni and Chantana Sam say in a note. Some ECB rate-setters in December stressed concerns about inflation staying under target and the fragility of the recovery, they say. Financial conditions have also stopped loosening, and a further tightening could raise concerns about the effectiveness of the monetary-policy transmission and lead some policymakers to call for rate cuts, the economists say. However, that won't happen as soon as Thursday's meeting, and it would probably require weak news on the growth front, they say. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
1126 ET - U.S. home values fell on a monthly basis for the sixth consecutive month in January, Zillow says. This trend mirrors last year, when home values fell each month from August 2024 to February 2025. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home is now 8.4% less expensive than a year ago, driven down primarily by lower mortgage rates. New listings and sales both fell in January compared to last year, likely influenced by poor weather in much of the country. Buyers are having an easier time than last year, with homes on the market longer and fewer homes selling above list price. Zillow expects sales to pick up as spring approaches. Housing affordability will continue to improve for prospective homebuyers. The monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home is $1,733, assuming a 20% down payment. That is 8.4% lower than last year, according to Zillow. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
1120 ET - Canada's economy could grow by as much as 10% over the long term if regulatory barriers to competition were removed, an independent, peer-reviewed study commissioned by the country's Competition Bureau finds. The authors say that current regulations in energy, transportation, retail distribution and professional services are more restrictive than necessary. Making rules more competition-friendly would create a stronger environment for innovation, the study finds. It estimates a 6.5% to 10% boost to Canada's GDP, but says that is conservative and reflects only part of the potential benefits. Additional gains could be realized by reducing barriers to trade within Canada. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)
1113 ET - Recent falls in cryptocurrencies have left buyers looking at the next chart support levels where they could buy them back at a cheaper level after a steep fall, Trade Nation's David Morrison says in a note. Both bitcoin and ether have "come under near-constant selling pressure" since mid-January and Morrison estimates the next major support levels at $70,000 for bitcoin and $2,000 for ether. "The bulls are searching out levels of significant support, calculating if they can hang in there should there be another lurch lower," he says. Bitcoin hit a 15-month low of $72,902 Tuesday and last trades at $73,932. Ether hit its lowest in nearly 9 months at $2,109.18 Tuesday and is last at $2,147.45, LSEG data show. (jessica.fleetham@wsj.com)
1113 ET - Prime Minister Carney's plans to lift defense spending marks a much-needed shift from the Trudeau era, but remains too small to sufficiently lift spending above 2% of GDP or to generate significant multiplier effects, Capital Economics' Bradley Saunders argues. The federal budget proposes C$82 billion in additional core defense spending through the end of the decade, which Saunders estimates works out to spending 2%-2.2% of GDP out to 2030. To hit the government's new 5% target by 2035, which would require core military spending of 3.5% of GDP, would require annual defense spending to double over the following five years to C$150 billion-C$160 billion by 2035, Saunders says, He adds Canada has plenty of fiscal room and a larger spending boost is possible. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)
1109 ET - New-car sales in Canada fell in January from a year ago, but to a level that still represents relatively healthy activity, says the latest data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. The auto-data firm notes that January 2025 was a historically strong month, which in the auto-dealership business represents a slow period as households deal with post-Christmas expenses and winter weather. Overall, sales last month fell 2.9% to 114,000 units, DesRosiers says. That still represents a healthy seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2.08 million, or above levels recorded in 3Q and 4Q, the firm says. Given the economic uncertainty posed by U.S.-Canada trade ties and cold winter weather, January's results "definitely exceeded expectations," says Andrew King, DesRosiers' managing partner. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2026 19:19 ET (00:19 GMT)
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