The latest Market Talks covering FX and Fixed Income. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

1254 ET - Rental affordability is better than it's been in four years, giving prospective renters a slight break on new leases. Subdued rent growth and record-breaking concessions from landlords are turning up now after a deluge of newly built apartments hit the market last year, according to Zillow. Builders responded to a surge of demand for housing during the pandemic, finishing more multifamily units in 2024 than any year in a half-century. A weaker labor market is also contributing to slower rent growth this year. New jobs are highly important for residential mobility. Zillow says falling apartment rents are concentrated in the Sun Belt and the Mountain West regions. In recent years, rental managers have turned to concessions, such as free months of rent or free parking, instead of lowering rents. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1236 ET - Just under three in 10--28.8%--U.S. homebuyers paid in all cash in August, down just a bit from 29% a year earlier, according to Redfin. The prevalence of all-cash payments peaked at nearly 35% in late 2023 and early 2024 because mortgage rates peaked in the high-7% range during that time. Buyers were inclined to pay in cash-- if they could afford it--to avoid high monthly interest payments. When mortgage rates came down from that peak, all-cash payments became less common. Another reason the share of buyers paying in cash has declined from its peak: this past summer was the strongest buyer's market in a decade, and a less competitive market means fewer buyers have to pay cash to beat out other bidders. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1224 ET - The government shutdown has delayed the release of most official economic statistics, leaving investors without metrics that they count on to judge the economy's health. In this environment, it has become easier for anecdotal stories to drive market sentiment, Clayton Triick, a portfolio manager at Angel Oak Capital Advisors, tells The WSJ. "Because there's a lack of data right now, the markets don't have much to grasp onto," Triick says. He cites the way that disclosures of a small amount of faulty loans at two regional banks this week sparked a big selloff across the entire sector. "When we get some kind of momentum around a story, it really hits." (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

1200 ET - Recent acute problems in corners of the credit market appear to be one-offs, and don't necessarily suggest deep problems in the consumer-lending world, Clayton Triick, a fixed-income portfolio manager at Angel Oak Capital Advisors, tells The WSJ. The collapse of auto-lender Tricolor, for instance, sprung very specifically from its business model of lending to people with unique credit challenges, including immigration status. "Tricolor was very idiosyncratic," Triick says. The situation does show how some parts of the lending landscape could come under stress as the economy, slows, he adds. (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

1058 ET - October's drop in Canadian small-business confidence should set the stage for deeper-than-expected Bank of Canada rate cuts, says economist Stephen Brown at Capital Economics. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says its monthly confidence gauge fell to a 5-month low. Brown notes the federation's survey tends to be an accurate and, right now, it points to a GDP decline of 2% annualized. The survey suggests the share of firms struggling due to weak demand is over 50%, and that both selling-price and wage expectations appear well anchored, at 2.7% and 2.2%, respectively. Brown is sticking to his call for a BOC rate cut on Oct. 29, although acknowledges there's a chance officials hold steady due to its concern about upside inflation risks. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)

1041 ET - The European Central Bank's unwinding of its corporate-bond holdings has not negatively affected the credit market as demand remains strong, LBBW's Matthias Schell says in a note. The ECB has been passively reducing its corporate bonds portfolio. The holdings fell below 300 billion euro in September, from a peak of 390 billion euro in February 2023. "The high volume of new corporate issues in 2024 and 2025, combined with strong investor demand, shows that the markets are coping well with the ECB's gradual withdrawal." (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1005 ET - Switzerland's strong fiscal position has helped the Swiss franc outperform other safe-haven currencies even though it's one of the most affected developed-market countries by U.S. tariffs, Insight Investment's Francesca Fornasari says in a note. "Given its [Switzerland's] dominance in exports, the stellar rise in gold prices has further underpinned the performance of the franc," she says. Switzerland is currently subject to a 39% U.S. tariff. The euro falls 0.4% to 0.9233 francs, having earlier reached an 11-month low of 0.9217, LSEG data show. Concerns about loan losses at U.S. regional banks and U.S.-China tensions are driving demand for safe havens. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

1003 ET - Analysts say Canada's national housing market is being weighed down by troubles in Toronto, the country's largest urban region. New data, collected by real-estate firm Urbanation, underscores the turmoil in Toronto. Urbanation says sales of new condo units in 3Q fell 54% from the same year-ago period to the lowest level since 1990. Further, developers canceled condominium projects promising 2,500 new units in the July-to-September period, bringing the year-to-date total of nixed starts to 18. "The condo market has clearly become depressed as it undergoes a difficult correction following excessive growth that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic," Urbanation says. The data also reflect how investors have bailed from the Canadian condo market, as they scale back price-growth expectations. (paul.vieira@wsj.com; @paulvieira)

0940 ET - Investors have sold off junk bonds in recent days as credit markets are buffeted by anxiety around the First Brands bankruptcy and challenges at two regional banks. For most of the summer, spreads held under 3 percentage points, near historical lows. But starting late last week, the spread on the ICE Bank of America high-yield index climbed to nearly 3.2 percentage points, before recovering a bit this week. It's a sign that localized fears about a handful of companies have permeated the broader credit market. But spreads still remain far lower than the levels they reached in April after President Trump's tariff rollout. (matt.grossman@wsj.com; @mattgrossman)

0933 ET - Euro investment-grade credit offers higher yields than German government bonds, or Bunds, and has relatively low risk, LBBW's Michael Koehler and Benedikt Horwedel say in a note. "We continue to regard [euro] investment-grade bonds as the more attractive alternative to Bunds, with significantly lower risk than in the more volatile high-yield segment," they say. Euro investment-grade credit spreads are, nonetheless, likely to widen slightly due to current economic weakness in the eurozone and the U.S., the analysts say. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0930 ET - Relatively higher long-dated U.K. government bond yields have failed to support sterling due to fiscal concerns leading up to the November 26 autumn budget, Insight Investment's Francesca Fornasari says in a note. "This highlights the return to a market dynamic not seen since the weeks leading up to the end of Liz Truss's premiership," she says. Former Prime Minister Truss caused market turmoil in 2022 after announcing unfunded tax cuts. The currency market is positioned against sterling and any indication of a smaller funding gap combined with a preference for spending cuts in the autumn budget could strengthen sterling, she says. Sterling falls 0.1% to $1.3412. However, 30-year gilt yields rise 8 basis points to 5.340%, Tradeweb data show. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

0928 ET - The dollar recovers slightly, as investors avoid risk. Besides ongoing trade tensions and the government shutdown, U.S. regional banks rise as a new source of worries. "The pendulum between fear and greed is swinging toward the former," Bannockburn's Marc Chandler writes, citing large writedowns at some banks. Zions Bancorp yesterday reported a large loss related to alleged fraud, following the recent collapse of Tricolor subprime lender and First Brands auto supplier. Chandler says a decline in bank reserves also raises concerns. The WSJ Dollar Index rises slightly, after falling 0.2% yesterday. The dollar is flat versus the euro and the yen and down 0.1% versus the Swiss franc. (paulo.trevisani@wsj.com; @ptrevisani)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 17, 2025 12:54 ET (16:54 GMT)

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