The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1052 ET - It's been a tough week for bitcoin and the cryptocurrency complex in general, but that's not the case for all forms of crypto. Privacy coins Zcash and Monero are up, with Zcash rising 1.6% to $619.36, while Monero climbs 7.2% to $349.18, according to data from LSEG. The continued appetite for digital assets that better protect privacy than assets like bitcoin that use a public ledger appears to be supporting these coins while bitcoin ETF outflows pick up. CoinGlass data shows that yesterday, these ETFs had an outflow of $519.1 million, up from $483.8 million the prior day. Bitcoin is down 1% to $66,837, and ethereum falls 2.5% to $1,857. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1046 ET - The Fed's April policy decision drew three dissents from officials who wanted the Fed to stop signalling its next move will likely be a rate cut. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, New York Fed President John Williams signals sympathy with that perspective, although he stopped short of spelling out that he thinks the Fed's policy statement should change. "I don't see an obvious argument that we should change interest rates, but I also don't see an obvious kind of direction where we would go in the future," Williams says. Pressed on whether the Fed needs to remove the "easing bias" language in its policy statement, Williams says, "I don't think forward guidance is particularly helpful right now." (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)
1035 ET - The European Union and German governments should "firmly reject" allegations made by the U.S. following its probe and planned additional tariffs, says Melanie Vogelbach, director at the DIHK German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The U.S. Trade Representative proposed new 10% levies on goods imports from the EU and other economies, alleging they hadn't done enough to halt imports made from forced labor. "The new tariff threats by the U.S. appear to be an attempt to reintroduce, through other means, the tariffs that have been halted by the courts," Vogelbach says. New tariffs run counter to U.S. obligations under the World Trade Organization and undermine efforts to build more reliable transatlantic economic relations, she says. "These do not provide solutions." (edward.frankl@wsj.com)
1033 ET - Across the U.S., delistings rose 3.8% month-over-month in April, the second straight month in which they have increased, Redfin says. Delistings are on the rise largely because it's a buyer's market. Many homeowners want to sell, but only if they can get the price they want. In many cases, prospective sellers test the waters but pull their home off the market when they don't get offers they're looking for. There are a few forces driving the trend. Homes are taking longer to sell. Inventory is rising faster than demand. And some sellers still have pandemic-era price expectations. Homeowners who watched prices soar during 2020-2022 may still expect bidding wars or top-dollar offers. For some, delisting can be a strategic reset. (chris.wack@wsj.com)
1025 ET - A warning sign for inflation in Canada pops up in the 1Q labor productivity data. The report indicates productivity fell 0.5% in 1Q. The report also suggests that unit-labor costs, or accounts for workers' wages and benefits per unit of real GDP, rose 1.3% in 1Q and by a healthy 3.2% from a year ago. The Bank of Canada sets interest rates to achieve and maintain 2% inflation. Companies generally would try to pass on those higher costs to their customers but BOC research indicates firms are hesitant due to underlying economic weakness. BOC Deputy Gov. Nicolas Vincent warned in a speech last year that the best way to contain inflation is to improve incomes through higher productivity. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)
1023 ET - Euro-denominated corporate bonds have stayed fairly resilient in the face of geopolitical uncertainty, making them more favorable than their sovereign bond peers, Societe Generale's Juan Valencia says in a note. Euro corporate bonds also offer higher yields than eurozone government bonds, he says. "In our view, [euro corporate bonds] remain the better investment alternative, at least for the next couple of quarters." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
1018 ET - The Norwegian krone is likely to weaken if oil and gas prices decline in coming months on a potential de-escalation of the Iran war, Danske Bank analysts say in a note. "In addition, we believe that Norges Bank's desire to re-anchor inflation expectations will come with a cost in the form of weaker growth and higher unemployment." Higher rates when the economy weakens will eventually contribute to a weaker krone, they say. The Norges Bank raised rates in May. Moreover, a potentially stronger dollar could contribute to a weakening in assets positively correlated to economic cycles including the krone, they say. The euro falls 0.1% to 10.7970 krone. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
1016 ET - Fed governor Michael Barr said that policy is in a good place and is likely to stay there for quite some time. Speaking at the Community Development Bankers Association Peer Forum in D.C., Barr discussed recent inflationary pressures from the war in Iran and the build-out of artificial intelligence. "We have a job to get that inflation back to 2% and we are going to do that. It is going to take some time to work through those shocks," Barr said. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com)
1014 ET - Gold prices dip in afternoon trading on expectations that war-driven inflation will keep interest rates high. "The losing run for gold continues, as investors price out expectations of a more accommodative Fed against the backdrop of this year's inflation resurgence amid the oil price spike and recent strength in U.S. data," says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com. "If more evidence of economic resilience emerges this week, or we see increased tensions and oil prices go even higher, gold could drop towards the $4,000 area." New York futures are down 0.9% to $4,477.60 a troy ounce. Focus is now on the U.S. jobs report due on Friday for more cues on the path of interest rates. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)
1011 ET - The dollar's outlook has improved, supported by resilient U.S. growth and building expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, Schroders analysts say in a note. "While longer-term structural concerns remain, stronger relative U.S. growth and higher rate differentials continue to support the currency tactically against developed-market peers." Schroders upgrades its view on the dollar to neutral from negative. The DXY dollar index rises 0.2% to a one-week high of 99.491, extending gains after a better-than-expected ADP private payrolls report. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
0957 ET - Corporate bonds issued by large technology companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta look attractive due to favorable valuations, M&G's Richard Woolnough says in a note. Tech companies have raised their bond supply in recent months to finance capital-intensive projects like construction of data centers. Increased bond supply and limited capacity for portfolios to absorb the new issuance means the high-quality bonds are "trading potentially at cheaper valuations than other investment-grade credits," Woolnough says. "This results in an opportunity to invest." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)
0941 ET - Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's hints about raising interest rates should limit any yen depreciation for now, Rabobank's Jane Foley says in a note. Ueda said Wednesday the BOJ could increase rates if the risk of higher inflation outweighs weaker growth prospects. This supports expectations for a BOJ rate rise on June 16, which should prevent the dollar from returning above 160 yen in the immediate term, Foley says. However, the BOJ will need to signal further rate rises in coming months to provide more lasting yen support. The Federal Reserve is expected to remove its bias towards cutting rates on June 17, which could exert pressure on the yen, she says. The dollar trades flat at 159.93 yen.(renae.dyer@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 03, 2026 10:52 ET (14:52 GMT)
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