The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
1635 ET - Capital One Financial's total credit-card delinquency rate fell both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, offering a sign that the bank's cardholders are doing a better job of keeping up with their bills. The company says total credit-card delinquency rate edged down to 3.4% in the second quarter, compared to 3.7% in the first quarter and 3.6% in the year-ago quarter. The delinquency rate in its consumer banking division, meanwhile, was lower than a year ago but higher than the first quarter, coming in around 4.3%. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1252 ET - Demand for restaurants is resilient even as customers face various pressures, D.A. Davidson analysts Matt Curtis and Andrew Tompkins said in a research note. A survey conducted by the analysts found that convenience and speed of service helped attract customers, while higher menu prices and personal financial pressures were the main headwinds. The firm says Texas Roadhouse, Chili's and The Cheesecake Factory are the best bang for your buck while Kura Sushi, Portillo's and Sweetgreen were perceived as more expensive. (grace.yoon@wsj.com)
1211 ET - The push of prediction market Kalshi to move into perpetual futures -- contracts with no expiration dates that are easily tradable -- looks to be extending past cryptocurrencies. The firm says that it now plans to add perps for more-traditional assets including gold, silver, and platinum. The firm says in filings with the CFTC today that such offerings have never been "offered before at this scale for retail investors," and that precious metal perps lend themselves to Kalshi's platform. "Perpetual futures have become the dominant form of derivative and a principal locus of price discovery in the markets in which they have emerged, yet that activity has historically occurred almost entirely on offshore, unregulated venues," Kalshi says in the filings. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1011 ET - The streak of bitcoin outflows has given way to a different streak of money coming back to bitcoin ETFs, with CoinGlass reporting its fifth consecutive net gain on those ETFs as of yesterday. The amounts coming in for bitcoin ETFs have also picked up, with $226.8 million entering into bitcoin yesterday. CoinGlass says that inflows have totaled $727 million over the course of those five days. Prior to this, bitcoin had weeks of outflows, with fund managers selling their positions amid speculation of impending rate hikes from the USDA. Bitcoin is up 2.1% to $66,713. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
0941 ET - The London Stock Exchange's move to introduce overnight trading will benefit retail investors, HANetf's Hector McNeil writes. LSE 24 will allow near-continuous trading between Monday and Friday, and will first be tested with exchange-traded products in the first half of 2027. The longer trading hours will give investors "greater flexibility, particularly when major market-moving events occur outside normal U.K. market hours," McNeil says. However, a key challenge for the exchange will be ensuring the overnight participation of market makers--the investment shops that take the other side of investors' bets--McNeil adds. "Without their participation, liquidity could be limited initially." (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0903 ET - Bitcoin rallies to a five-week high as U.S. stock futures rise, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading gains ahead of earnings from major tech companies. Bitcoin is also supported by renewed institutional demand, with spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds recording two consecutive weeks of net inflows, Trade Nation's David Morrison says in a note. Bitcoin rises to a high of $66,602, LSEG data show. The next big upside target is $70,000, while chart support stands at $65,000, Morrison says. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)
0656 ET - EQT's first-half results for 2026 will end the cycle of analysts revising down their earnings estimates for the stock, Bank of America analysts write. Earnings will be bolstered by higher fee revenues as the Swedish investment group increases its assets under management, the analysts write. EQT's fundraising has been resilient despite sector-wide concerns about investment groups' software exposure, they say. Revenue from carried interest--profits on investments paid to fund managers--will also feed into the group's top line in 2027-28, they say. The analysts raise their price objective for EQT stock from 370 Swedish kroner to 385 kroner. The stock slips 1.5% to 310.4 kroner. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0433 ET - China's economy likely needs to turn to policy support to boost domestic demand and support growth, according to Julius Baer's Sophie Altermatt in a research note, noting that its economy lost momentum in 2Q. "While exports and selected manufacturing sectors continued to perform strongly, weak consumption, subdued investment, and a struggling property market underscored persistent softness in domestic demand," Altermatt says. She expects policymakers to step up stabilization measures in 3Q, maintaining her 2026 GDP growth forecast of 4.5%, which is at the lower end of the government's official target range. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)
0345 ET - The selloff seen in South Korean stocks indicates deteriorating momentum in overall investor appetite, Societe Generale says in a note. Unlike during the early days of the U.S.-Iran conflict in March, inflows into leveraged ETFs are softening, particularly for products linked to Samsung Electronics, while investor deposits are falling, says Asia equity strategist Rajat Agarwal. The ETFs now trade more than 50% below investors' volume-weighted average purchase price since launch, suggesting deepening losses are starting to test retail conviction, he says. (jihye.lee@wsj.com)
0254 ET - TMBThanachart Bank is likely to increase its dividend payout ratio to 70%-80% over 2026-2028 from 60% in 2025, as the share price exceeds book value now, says Jesada Techahusdin at Maybank Securities (Thailand) in a research report. At a recent analyst meeting, the TMBThanachart CEO highlighted preference for higher cash returns to shareholders via a special dividend or a higher payout ratio over share buybacks, as the stock is trading above book value. The bank is among the most active returners of excess capital in the Thai banking sector. The brokerage raises the stock's target price to 3.30 baht from 2.40 baht with an unchanged buy rating. Shares are 1.35% lower at 2.92 baht. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
0144 ET - U.S. Treasury yields edge lower in line as oil prices decline slightly even as the Middle East conflict does not abate. Following the collapse of the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding for peace, "the conflict now largely revolves around control of the Strait of Hormuz," SEB's Maya Westerlund says in a note. However, the risk is a more prolonged stalemate, with continued uncertain energy flows, higher oil prices and recurring attacks, she says. The two-year Treasury yield falls 1.3 bps to 4.200%, while the 10-year yield declines 0.6 bps to 4.591%, according to Tradeweb. (emese.bartha@wsj.com)
0053 ET - Commonwealth Bank is seen at Citi as having the best foundations of any major Australian lender when it comes to becoming a successful adopter of artificial intelligence. Analyst Thomas Strong tells clients in a note that Australia's largest bank appears to be ahead of rivals NAB, Westpac and ANZ on infrastructure, data, talent and culture. The latter two lenders could be hamstrung in the near term by their work to resolve legacy technology issues, Strong says. He thinks that Australian banks should benefit from AI due to the scale of their data, their dominant market position, and their narrow product sets. Analysis of offshore peers suggests potential for AI deployment to lift local lenders' pretax profits by 3%-5% across several years. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 21, 2026 16:50 ET (20:50 GMT)
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