The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
1849 ET - Dicker Data's latest acquisition is viewed at UBS as an incrementally positive step despite its relatively small size. The investment bank's analysts tell clients in a note that Dicker Data's A$111.8 million move for regional tech-solutions distributor Sektor Group helps develop its geographic expansion at an attractive acquisition multiple. They think the deal will be immediately accretive to EPS for the Australia-listed hardware and software distributor. With Dicker Data targeting southeast Asia, the UBS analysts want to see more evidence that Sektor can grow its revenues outside of Australia and New Zealand. UBS has a neutral rating on the stock and an unchanged target price of 15.40 Australian dollars. Shares are at A$15.57 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1838 ET - Sports Entertainment Group's regional expansion helps the sports media group secure a new bull at Bell Potter. Initiating coverage of the stock with a buy rating, analyst Michael Ardrey tells clients in a note that the Australian company's recent acquisition of New Zealand-based audio and ad platform MediaWorks brings opportunities for organic growth and above-target cost synergies. With a business that includes sports-talk radio, digital media and live events, Ardrey thinks Sports Entertainment can generate average annual Ebitda growth of 13% through fiscal 2029. Bell Potter places a target price on the stock of 0.45 Australian dollars. Shares are at A$0.265 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1757 ET - Macquarie isn't ready to turn bullish on Tower, despite the New Zealand-based general insurer's upgrade to its annual earnings guidance. Tower now expects an underlying net profit of NZ$69 million-NZ$79 million in FY26. That's above prior guidance of NZ$55 million-NZ$65 million. The upgrade reflects only NZ$25 million of large events claims costs, compared with Tower's FY26 allowance of NZ$45 million. "Tower is one of the few insurance companies in the region with organic volume growth," Macquarie says. "But at this point in the premium rate cycle we maintain our neutral recommendation." Tower is up 1.5% at NZ$2.07 today. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
1741 ET - The Trump administration's flurry of U.S. tariffs didn't stop imports from rising last year thanks to a glut of spending on AI infrastructure and an early rush to import before tariffs took effect, according to an analysis from the Dallas Fed. The average U.S. tariff rate increased by almost 12 percentage points in 2025, the largest jump since the Great Depression, creating an expectation that spending on U.S. imports would decline sharply, Fed researchers say. Instead, U.S. imports grew by 4.5% last year, they say. Were it not for heightened AI-related importing and countries front-running to beat tariff impositions early in the year, U.S. import growth would've likely been negative, the researchers say. (dean.seal@wsj.com)
1547 ET - The global bonds selloff takes a break and Treasury yields edge lower ahead of Fed minutes. The central bank is expected to hold rates this month, after raising them in September for the first time in three years. Inflation data coming next week could still change the outlook. An auction of three-year notes clears at the highest yield since 2006, as investors demand loftier returns to finance the government. The Treasury will auction $39 billion in 10-year notes tomorrow. The 10-year yield drops 0.040 percentage point to 5.270% and the two-year falls 0.042 points to 4.789%. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)
1440 ET - Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said the Fed still has work to do on short-term interest rates, even though longer-term Treasury yields remain elevated. Speaking at a fireside chat, Schmid said higher long-term rates are "no doubt" changing behaviors in the investing world through cost of capital and credit. However, Schmid said the Fed is focused on the short federal funds rate. "Personally, I think we have some work to do on the short rate, even though I would say that the yield curve right now is in a more traditional place."(jessica.coacci@wsj.com)
1437 ET - U.S. farmers turned more pessimistic in September, thanks to higher input costs pressuring farmer's bottom lines. In the latest Ag Economy Barometer produced by Purdue University and the CME Group, farmer sentiment in September fell from 135 to 123. More farmers surveyed in September expect their finances to be 'worse off' a year from now than 'better', although many farmers do see some bright spots on the horizon. "While higher costs and financial pressures are clearly shaping producers' views of current conditions, strong expectations for farmland values point to a more positive outlook for some aspects of the agricultural economy," says Michael Langemeier of Purdue's Center for Commercial Agriculture. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1242 ET - Gold futures attempt a recovery as the U.S. dollar eases from yesterday's 18-month high. "Softer oil prices today are adding a further tailwind for bullion," Kaynat Chainwala of Kotak Neo says in a note. Lower expectations for a Fed October interest-rate increase are also supportive, she adds. "Attention now turns to Wednesday's FOMC minutes, which should offer more clarity on how divided policymakers are over the path ahead." Gold for December delivery is up 0.8% in New York at $4,190.30 a troy ounce. Silver is up 0.5% at $61.63 a troy ounce. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1225 ET - The amount of stocks trading on blockchains went from $639 million in September 2025 to $3.17 billion in September 2026--a near 400% increase year-over-year, says RedStone in a report. While the popularity of tokenized stocks is growing at an exponential rate, their utility remains fairly limited. The firm says that most are traded in the form of perpetual futures on exchanges like Binance, and that the three-largest issuers of tokenized stocks don't allow holders any direct share ownership. Which is why tokens purporting to represent OpenAI stock or Anthropic shares have been publicly disavowed by both companies, which have announced IPOs but haven't started any roadshows. Bitcoin posted a strong September, and is up 0.6% to $86,260 in current trade. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1211 ET - Snap elections in Spain in November aren't expected to have a significant impact on Spanish government bonds, MFS Investment Management's Peter Goves says in a note. "Spanish fundamentals are strong and Spanish politics is rarely a spread driver," the head of developed market debt sovereign research says. Furthermore, it appears that the Partido Popular (PP) could potentially form a workable majority with VOX--which would give Spain a majority government for the first time in several years, Goves says. "This would reduce uncertainty around passing a budget for example," he says. In addition, the PP is likely to be pro-business and pro-EU, which would also support spreads, he says. The 10-year Spanish bond yield falls 6.3 basis points to 4.081% as eurozone bond yields decline. (emese.bartha@wsj.com)
1136 ET - Economic activity in Canada expanded for a sixth straight month in September, the latest Ivey purchasing managers index report suggests. The seasonally adjusted PMI registered 58.2, a sixth consecutive month above the 12-month moving average of 55 but down from 64.3 in August. Ivey data indicates an increase in purchases contributed to a pike in inventories, and there also was a jump in prices as the ongoing Canada-U.S. trade dispute contributed to supply chain disruptions in North America, professor P. Fraser Johnson says. The prices index rose to 80.4, the highest since April 2022. The employment index came in at 56.5 from 55 in August, while the inventories index registered a decline to 58.3 from August's 61.4 but remained above the 52.9 12-month moving average. (robb.stewart@wsj.com; @RobbMStewart)
1040 ET - The rebound in Canada's trade surplus in August provides some upside risk to Statistics Canada's advance estimate for a 0.2% growth in monthly GDP, though the surplus is likely to narrow from here as the renewed trade war bites, Capital Economics' Bradley Saunders says. The economist says the sharply wider surplus owes a fair bit to higher oil prices and frontrunning ahead of the Trump administration's Section 338 tariffs. Exports rose 2.5% on-month, completely reversing July's decline, but Saunders says the impact of tariffs should partially reverse in September.
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