The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1417 ET - The recent bonds selloff sent yields above more than one-year-old ceilings, so what's next? WisdomTree's Kevin Flanagan says they could go higher. "The next level would be about 4.8%, which is where [the 10-year benchmark] hit in January of 2025." He warns that structural adjustments, including persistent inflation and increased Treasurys issuance, mean that a return to low pre-war baselines is unlikely. "I still think we're in a scenario where the market sentiment is to sell into strength." The 10-year yield is at 4.558%, down from 4.627% earlier. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
1334 ET - U.S. pending home sales fell 1.1% from a week earlier during the week ending May 17, Redfin says. That's the first decline since early April. Pending sales are still at their second-highest level since September 2022. Mortgage-purchase applications declined 4% week over week. Homebuying demand fell because mortgage rates increased. The daily average mortgage rate hit 6.75% this week, the highest level since July. Prices are rising, too. The median asking price increased 1.4% year over year. On the selling side, new listings declined 0.2% week over week. That marks the third straight week of new listings declining. This week's jump in mortgage rates may give house hunters with stable incomes another opportunity to negotiate a home's price down and get concessions from sellers, Redfin says. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
1312 ET - Home-purchase cancellations are starting to slow, Redfin says. Just over 47,000 U.S. home-sale agreements fell through in April, equal to 13.4% of homes that went under contract that month. That's down slightly from a month earlier. Contract cancellations inched down this spring as homebuyers and sellers gain a clearer sense of housing market conditions after several years of volatility. More sellers have come to terms with the fact that it's a buyer's market, and they're increasingly willing to lower prices and/or provide concessions to keep deals together. Buyers, for their part, have grown more accustomed to high housing payments, with pending home sales rising, and may be less likely to back out due to sticker shock. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
1304 ET - SpaceX's IPO filing revealed that the company is sitting on 18,712 bitcoin through 2025. That stash is the ninth-largest holding of bitcoin in the market, according to data from CoinMarketCap -- ahead of leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. At current value, SpaceX bitcoin reserves are worth more than $1.4 billion. Combined with the stash of 11,509 BTC owned by Tesla, Elon Musk's operations own more than 30,000 BTC -- making them the fifth-largest holder in the world, just ahead of Bitcoin Standard Treasury Co., according to CoinMarketCap. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1247 ET - Employers appear reluctant to reduce headcount, even if they are more cautious about hiring, Oxford Economics says in a report. Initial jobless claims this year are tracking below levels of the past three years, according to the report. The claims data show the job market is holding up despite months of war with Iran, as well as ongoing inflation and tariffs, Oxford Economics says. "We still can't rule out some spillover effects from the war and the spike in oil prices on to the labor market, which we have always expected would come with a lag," Oxford Economics says. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1208 ET - Privacy coin Zcash is taking a break after nearing its highest levels since November 2025 on Wednesday. Zcash is down 2.5% at$651.44, but still up over 25% for the week, according to LSEG data. Powering Zcash's rise is increased interest in cryptocurrency that can allow for private transactions in a world of quantum computing and other threats to cryptography. Zcash's zero-knowledge proofs are seen as technologically superior to Monero, which is the other cryptocurrency that focuses on protecting user privacy. "Zcash's privacy infrastructure has evolved to become more resilient and credible," says Eliézer Ndinga of 21shares. Other coins have adopted a more privacy-focused approach, including Litecoin, a cryptocurrency dating back to the early days of BTC. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1139 ET - Hyperliquid is posting a huge day, gaining 20% in the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinglass. HYPE is now trading at roughly $62, which is an all-time high for the token that corresponds with the DeFi platform of the same name. The ETFs launched by 21shares and Bitwise are attracting investors, with inflows jumping to $25.5 million yesterday. These ETFs combined posted an inflow of just $5.6 million at this time last week, according to Coinglass data. HYPE has ascended quickly, and has roughly $8.7 billion in volume traded over the last 24 hours -- making it the fourth-busiest cryptocurrency, behind stalwarts solana, ethereum, and bitcoin. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1058 ET - The small increase in the European Commission's consumer-confidence measure doesn't change the big picture of its fall to a very low level since February, Capital Economics' Jack Allen-Reynolds says in a note. The eurozone barometer rose to minus 20.6 in May from minus 19.0 in April, still around levels at which it bottomed out during the global financial crisis and eurozone sovereign debt crisis, he says. That suggests forecasts that consumption will post a small expansion in the second quarter could be too optimistic. Indeed, the drop in consumer confidence since the Iran war began, together with the weakness in business surveys, indicates that the economy might contract in the second quarter, he says. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
1054 ET - U.K. government bond yields have surged to multi-year highs recently, underscoring weaknesses in public finances, Federated Hermes' Mitch Reznick says in a note. High government borrowing costs are expected to exacerbate the U.K.'s fiscal challenges and the pressure could be reflected in rising long-term gilt yields, Reznick says. U.K. 30-year gilt yields are last down 3.2 basis points on the day at 5.635%, having recently hit a 28-year high of 5.868%, LSEG data show. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
1047 ET - Policymakers and economists have commented on how AI could offset the effects of the aging population in the U.S. economy. "AI is viewed as a way to fill that gap by boosting how much each worker can produce rather than relying on a larger workforce. It can automate repetitive tasks, enhance decision-making, and allow smaller teams to generate the same or greater output," says Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial in a note. He says that the dynamic could also matter for governments, since slower workforce growth puts pressure on tax revenue while spending on healthcare and pensions is rising.(jessica.coacci@wsj.com)
1025 ET - The weakness of the eurozone economy suggests the European Central Bank shouldn't rush into consecutive and aggressive rate hikes, ABN AMRO Investment Solutions' Christophe Boucher says. A strategy combining interest-rate increases followed by a wait-and-see approach is likely the best solution given still limited evidence of second-round effects on inflation, he says in a note. Data showed the composite PMI sinking further into contraction in May, with any resilience in the manufacturing sector likely explained by companies building up inventories due to the conflict, Boucher says. But that effect is fading as supply-chain tensions become increasingly apparent. While the ECB will focus on inflation, the tightening of financial conditions should significantly hamper a European economic recovery, he says. (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
1021 ET - Canada as a net oil exporter typically benefits from higher crude prices, though research by Scotiabank indicates that may have limits. Modelling director Olivier Gervais says higher oil prices remain a net positive for activity in Canada at current levels, but the macro payoff diminishes as prices rise. He finds evidence that once oil prices move into the US$120-US$130 range they no longer provide a statistically meaningful boost to Canadian activity. Gervais cautions against seeing this as a precise tipping point, but instead considers it an indicative zone where the positive relationship becomes markedly less clear. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2026 14:17 ET (18:17 GMT)
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