The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
1119 ET - Michelle Bowman, the Fed's vice chair for supervision, said her proposed modernization of bank regulation aims to push activity back into banks. After the Dodd-Frank law, she says "we've seen a lot of business that's traditional banking activity exit into the non bank space, and this is one way for us to recalibrate that," on Fox Business. America's biggest banks would be allowed to hold billions of dollars less in capital on their books under proposals unveiled Thursday, easing rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis that were meant to help shield against meltdowns. (jessica.coacci@wsj.com; @jessica_coacci)
0923 ET - European stocks are showing remarkable resilience to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, even as markets look to price extended disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, Goldman Sachs analysts write. Equities will not enter a sustained market downturn as earnings and company balance sheets remain strong, the analysts say. "Geopolitical shocks have historically reversed quickly," they write. However, investors should increase their exposure to defensive stocks that are less vulnerable to a downturn in economic conditions, the analysts say. They cite names including semiconductor company ASML, telecommunications group Elisa and software company Experian as stocks with more than 20% upside potential. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0703 ET - U.K. banks are underperforming so far in 2026 as investors balk at higher valuations and macroeconomic concerns weigh on the sector, AJ Bell's Russ Mould writes. After a five-year bull run, some U.K. banks are down steeply so far this year. Though inflation spurred by conflict in the Middle East could support banks' income, "any economic slowdown due to higher energy prices could lead to an increase in loan losses that offsets the extra interest income," Mould writes. Investment banks' troubles are compounded by private credit concerns, with Barclays and Standard Chartered 18% and 15% lower for the year, respectively. NatWest is down 18% for the year, though HSBC--which has significant operations in Asia--is flat. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)
0346 ET - KKR isn't immune to the headwinds facing the private-credit market, writes Morningstar's Greggory Warren in a note. Issues around liquidity in private-credit funds are likely to hit fundraising efforts and lead to increased redemption requests in the medium term, he says. While the alternative asset manager's exposure to private credit is far less than that of its peers Blue Owl and Ares, the company has enough private-credit exposure to weigh on it for the next several years, he adds. Morningstar cuts its fair-value estimate on KKR to $115 from $140, citing likely lower fundraising and higher redemptions for KKR's credit and liquid strategies segment. However, its shares are still moderately undervalued even with the fair-value estimate change, the analyst adds. Shares last closed flat at $90.60.(megan.cheah@wsj.com)
0227 ET - AIA Group's proposition for affluent customers is likely to set it apart from peers amid China's migration of wealth to long-term investment alternatives from property, says Morningstar's Iris Tan in a report. The Hong Kong-based insurer is tiering up from mass-affluent to high-net-worth clientele through its products and selective bank partnerships, she notes. She reckons the high-net-worth segment faces less competition from any digital disruptions to insurance. The segment also has greater resilience amid rate and currency volatility, as clients prioritize wealth preservation and risk diversification over guaranteed yields, compared with commoditized mass-market offerings, she says. Morningstar retains its HK$104 fair-value estimate, noting that the stock looks undervalued. Shares rise 3.5% to HK$85.70. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)
1717 ET - A public venture fund, whose top holdings include Anthropic, Databricks and OpenAI, saw shares surge on its first day of trading. Fundrise Innovation Fund listed its shares under the ticker VCX on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company's shares opened at $31.25, reached an intraday high of $128, and closed at $76.16 a share. The trading price compares to a Net Asset Value of the fund of $18.97 per share. "It seems the market was excited about VCX and our mission to democratize access to the best private tech companies," said Benjamin Miller, chief executive of Fundrise. (yuliya.chernova@wsj.com; @ychernova)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2026 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)
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